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BIOGRAPHY 


MILLAKD   FILLMORE. 


BUFFALO : 

THOMAS    &    LATHROPS,    PUBLISHERS. 

185G. 


E42T 
C44 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 
5 


CHAPTER  I. 
His  BIRTH,  ANCESTORS,  AND  EARLY  LIFE,  .         .         .         .         17 

CHAPTER  II. 

MR.  FILLMORE'S  ENTRANCE  INTO  PUBLIC  LIFE,        .         .         .         .31 

CHAPTER  III. 

MR.  FILLMORE'S  CAREER  IN  CONGRESS, 44 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  TWENTY-SEVENTH  CONGRESS, 59 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844, 79 

CHAPTER  VI. 

ELECTED  COMPTROLLER  OF  NEW  YORK, 9G 

CHAPTER  VII. 

VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  10G 


P46 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

MR.  FILLMORE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,       .         .         .119 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  COMPROMISE  MEASURES  AND  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW,    .         .         129 

CHAPTER  X. 
FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE, *         .         .156 

CHAPTER  XI. 
CUBA  AND  THE  FILIBUSTERS, 179 

CHAPTER  XII. 

EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS  TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES,         .         .         .     200 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
AMERICAN  PRINCIPLES, 205 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  the  spring  of  1853,  MILLARD  FILLMORE,  the  subject  of 
the  following  biographical  sketch,  retired  from  the  Presidency. 
Several  of  our  most  illustrious  statesmen,  who,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  his  administration,  were  master-spirits  in  the 
national  councils,  had  been  gathered  to  their  fathers.  CAL- 
HOUN,  indeed,  had  been  summoned  away  before  the  dispensa 
tion  of  Providence  which  placed  a  new  pilot  at  the  helm  of 
State,  and  before  the  portentous  storm,  then  raging,  had 
gathered  all  its  blackness.  His  last  speech  in  the  Senate, 
read  for  him  by  a  friend  because  he  was  too  feeble  to  deliver 
it,  is  pervaded  by  dark  forebodings  scarcely  relieved  by  a 
gleam  of  hope.  His  two  great  compeers,  who  sympathized 
in  his  apprehensions,  although  they  did  not  share  in  his 
despondency,  were  still  spared  to  the  country,  and,  at  the 
commencement  of  Mr.  FILLMORE'S  administration,  were  leading 
members  of  the  Senate.  CLAY  had,  some  years  before,  bid  a 
formal,  and,  as  he  supposed,  a  final  farewell  to  this  theater 
of  his  labors;  but  a  great  and  perilous  crisis  had  now  sum 
moned  him  again  to  the  service  of  his  country.  WEBSTER, 


VI  .  INTRODUCTION. 

then  also  in  the  Senate,  had  recently  put  forth  one  of  the 
most  powerful  efforts  of  his  eloquence  for  the  preservation  of 
the  endangered  Union.  Although,  to  use  his  own  language, 
"the  imprisoned  winds  are  let  loose"  —  although  "the  east, 
the  west,  the  north,  and  the  stormy  south,  all  combine  to 
throw  the  whole  ocean  into  agitation,  to  toss  its  billows  to  the 
skies,  and  to  disclose  its  profoundest  depths,"  he  would  neither 
shrink  from  his  duty  nor  abandon  hope.  "  I  am  looking  out 
for  no  fragment,"  he  says,  "  upon  which  to  float  away  from 
the  wreck,  if  wreck  there  must  be,  but  for  the  good  of  the 
whole,  and  the  preservation  of  the  whole ;  and  there  is  that 
which  will  keep  me  to  my  duty  during  this  struggle,  whether 
the  sun  and  stars  shall  appear,  or  shall  not  appear  for 
many  days." 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  an  agitation  which  thus  aroused  the 
energies  —  in  the  midst  of  dangers  which  thus  alarmed  the 
apprehensions  of  our  greatest  and  most  experienced  statesmen, 
that  the  administration  of  MILLARD  FILLMOKE  commenced. 
Before  he  had  been  two  months  in  power,  there  was  a  lull  in 
the  storm  —  the  crisis  had  passed  —  and  although  a  heavy 
ground- swell  continued,  for  some  time,  to  mark  the  violence 
of  the  recent  tempest,  the  country  was  fast  settling  into  tran 
quillity.  As  the  ablest  men  of  both  political  parties  had  lent 
their  influence  to  secure  the  compromise,  so  they  now  united 
to  give  it  stability  by  all  the  combined  weight  of  their  charac 
ters.  Two  years  afterwards,  both  the  great  political  parties, 
into  which  the  country  was  then  divided,  solemnly  endorsed 
it,  in  their  national  conventions,  as  the  FINAL  SETTLEMENT  of  a 
most  dangerous  controversy. 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

But  no  sooner  had  the  administration  which  had  brought 
about  this  auspicious  result  retired  from  power,  than  other 
counsels  began  to  prevail.  The  first  Congress  that  met  after 
the  inauguration  of  President  PIERCE,  signalized  itself  by 
carrying  out  his  wishes  in  the  repeal  of  a  compromise  of  more 
than  thirty  years'  standing,  regarded  by  the  country  as  an 
inviolable  compact.  Thus  were  the  flood-gates  of  sectional 
agitation  wantonly  re-opened,  and  during  the  whole  period  of 
the  present  Democratic  administration,  the  country  has  been 
distracted  by  heated  controversies,  on  a  subject  which  it  was 
supposed  the  compromise  of  1850  had  withdrawn  forever  from 
the  arena  of  national  politics. 

We  are  still  in  the  midst  of  these  controversies.  Two  of 
the  three  great  parties  into  which  the  country  is  now  divided, 
insist  on  making  the  slavery  question  the  leading  issue  in  the 
approaching  presidential  campaign.  Granting  the  importance 
of  this  question  to  be  as  great  as  these  parties  contend,  in 
whose  wisdom  can  the  American  people  so  fully  confide  to 
preside  over  its  settlement,  as  in  that  of  the  statesman  who, 
three  years  ago,  extricated  the  country  from  the  same  dangers 
into  which  the  Democratic  party  has  re-plunged  it?  He  who 
has  once  piloted  the  tempest-tossed  ship  into  a  safe  harbor, 
is  the  most  suitable  man  to  be  again  placed  at  the  helm,  when 
her  moorings  have  been  wantonly  severed,  and  she  is  again 
drifting  on  the  same  stormy  sea,  exposed  to  be  split  on  the 
same  dangerous  rocks. 

But  the  present  importance  of  the  slavery  question  is 
greatly  over-rated.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise, 
which  had  no  other  object  than  to  gain  the  favor  of  the  South 


Vlil  INTRODUCTION. 

by  opening  Kansas  to  slavery,  will  injure  tho  interest  it  was 
intended  to  promote.  Kansas  is  as  certain  to  be  a  free  State 
as  if  the  Missouri  compromise  were  standing  to-day,  intact 
and  irrepealable.  So  far  as  relates  to  territorial  extension  for 
their  peculiar  institutions,  the  South  have  gained  nothing  — 
the  North  lost  nothing.  Other  laws  than  the  Missouri  com 
promise —  laws  which  no  congressional  enactment  can  repeal 
—  the  laws  of  climate  and  soil  —  laws  which  govern  emigra 
tion,  and,  above  all,  laws  written  on  the  human  heart,  have 
decreed  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  whole  territory  to 
which  the  Missouri  compromise  applied.  The  pretended 
friends  of  the  South  have  not  only  conferred  no  benefit  on 
that  section  of  the  country,  but  have  called  into  existence  the 
most  formidable  party  that  has  ever  been  arrayed  against 
southern  interests,  and  armed  that  party  with  specious  and 
plausible  arguments.  Will  the  South  support  a  policy  so 
fruitless  in  good,  n,  policy  so  teeming  with  evil,  to  them 
selves  ?  Will  they  act  with  a  party  that  has  wantonly  revived 
an  agitation  which  it  was  clearly  foreseen  would  peril  their  most 
cherished  interests  ?  So  far  as  regards  the  spread  of  slavery, 
nothing  has  been  gained  or  lost  by  the  repeal  of  the  compro 
mise.  That  repeal  is  simply  a  fountain  of  political  excitement, 
furnishing  topics  of  declamation  to  demagogues  who  aim  to 
purchase  power  at  the  expense  of  the  public  tranquillity.  The 
American  parly,  seeing  that  neither  section  of  the  country 
has  anything  to  gain  by  the  continuance  of  the  controversy, 
refuse  to  take  any  part  in  it,  except  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  peace. 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

As  the  party  which  has  nominated  Mr.  FILLMORE  now 
enters  a  presidential  contest  for  the  first  time,  it  may  not  be 
inappropriate,  before  sketching  the  history  of  its  candidate,  to 
say  a  few  words  of  its  principles.  They  make  no  appeal  to  a 
love  of  novelty,  to  that  reckless  passion  for  change  which 
delights  in  perpetual  innovation.  They  address  themselves, 
on  the  contrary,  to  the  sober  sense,  the  calm  conservative  sen 
timent  of  the  country.  They  are  founded  on  PATRIOTISM  — 
the  source  of  all  public  virtue,  the  parent  of  all  the  great 
deeds  that  emblazon  the  pages  of  history.  Love  for  the  land 
that  gave  us  birth  — •  that  instinctive  feeling  which  alike  leads 
men  to  repel  the  invader,  and  to  preserve  their  institutions 
from  the  unhallowed  touch  of  foreign  influence  —  that  ennobling 
sentiment  which  so  constantly  triumphs  over  the  strongest  of 
the  selfish  instincts,  the  love  of  life  —  which  pours  out  its 
blood  like  water  in  its  country's  cause  and  counts  it  glory  — 
which  feels  that  its  native  air  is  tainted  and  no  longer  worth 
breathing  —  its  native  soil  polluted,  and  fit  only  to  afford 
graves  for  its  sons,  when  they  cease  to  be  its  sole  sovereigns 
—  this  sentiment  it  is  on  which  the  American  party  is  built, 
and  on  which  it  rests  its  hopes  for  the  success  of  its  funda 
mental  maxim,  that  AMERICANS  SHALL  RULE  AMERICA. 

The  principle  is  not  new.  Our  fathers  declared  it  when 
they  cast  off  their  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  refused 
to  be  taxed  by  a  foreign  parliament.  They  embodied  it  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  country  when  they  inserted  in  that 
instrument  a  provision  that  the  two  highest  officers  of  the  gov 
ernment —  the  President  and  Vice-president  of  the  United 

States  —  shall  be  native-born  citizens.     They  recognized  it  in 
1* 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

the  provisions  of  the  same  instrument  which  forbid  the  election 
of  any  person  to  the  United  States  Senate  who  has  not  resided 
in  the  country  nine  years  in  addition  to  the  period  Congress 
might  require  for  naturalization,  or  of  any  person  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  whose  residence  has  not  extended 
seven  years  beyond  the  same  period.  The  length  of  time 
aliens  shall  reside  in  the  country  before  they  can  become 
citizens,  was  not  fixed  by  the  Constitution,  but  wisely  left  to 
the  discretion  of  Congress.  Circumstances  might  arise  requir 
ing  an  extension  of  the  period,  and  Congress  was  clothed  with 
the  power  to  extend  it  as  the  exigencies  of  the  country  and 
the  safety  of  its  institutions  should  render  expedient. 

Why  raise  an  impassable  barrier  against  a  naturalized  citi 
zen  becoming  eligible,  by  any  length  of  residence,  to  either 
of  the  highest  offices'?  Why  take  such  an  apparent  excess  of 
precaution  as  to  exclude  from  those  offices  a  person  bora  on 
ship-board  during  the  voyage  of  his  parents  hither  and  wholly 
educated  in  this  country  ?  We  put  the  question  to  those  who 
ridicule  the  idea  of  danger  to  our  institutions  from  foreign 
influence,  and  ask  if  all  this  pains  was  taken  to  guard  against 
an  unreal  danger  ? 

From  the  preponderance  of  the  native  over  the  foreign  pop 
ulation,  a  calculation  of  probabilities  will  show  that  there  must 
always  be  a  large  majority  of  native-born  members  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress.  As  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  must 
have  foreseen  that  the  naturalized  members  would  always  be 
a  minority,  it  clearly  follows  that  they  apprehended  danger 
from  the  influence  of  even  a  few  who  might  retain  their  foreign 
prejudices  and  sympathies,  and  so  excluded  foreigners  from 


INTRODUCTION.  -     XI 

the  national  councils  for  a  long  period  after  they  had  acquired 
the  privilege  of  citizenship. 

The  power  granted  to  Congress  over  the  whole  subject  of 
naturalization,  furnishes  another  conclusive  argument  in  favor 
of  the  same  position.  It  was  foreseen  that  the  future  increase 
of  immigration  might  become  so  great,  and  the  danger  from 
foreign  influence  so  augmented,  that  any  rule  of  naturalization 
inserted  in  the  Constitution  would  prove  ineffectual  against  the 
increased  pressure  of  the  evil.  Congress  was,  therefore,  in 
vested  with  unlimited  discretion,  and  left  at  liberty  to  deal  with 
the  danger  according  to  the  demands  of  its  growing  magnitude. 

The  first  Congress  judged  a  residence  of  five  years  a  suffi 
cient  preparation  for  citizenship.  At  that  time,  and  for  a  long 
period  previous,  nearly  all  our  immigrants  came  from  Great 
Britain.  The  present  facilities  for  crossing  the  ocean  did  not 
exist;  the  voyage  had  not  become  so  cheap  as  to  place  it 
within  the  means  of  the  poorest  part  of  the  population,  nor 
was  there  in  this  country  the  great  demand  for  rude  and 
unskilled  labor  which  the  growth  of  our  cities  and  our  exten 
sive  public  works  have  since  created.  The  bulk  of  our  immi 
grant  population  was,  at  that  time,  more  intelligent  and 
respectable  than  it  is  now,  and  furnished  materials  for  a 
better  class  of  citizens.  They  were  nearly  all  Protestants; 
a  large  majority  of  them  were  Englishmen.  As  Protestants, 
they  were  inaccessible  to  the  influence  of  a  foreign  hierarchy. 
As  Englishmen,  they  had  come  to  live  under  a  government 
founded  on  the  model  of  the  British  Constitution,  and  which,  in 
copying  from  that  model,  had  retained  a  great  deal  more  than 
it  discarded.  Comparatively  little  transformation  of  character 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

was  needed  to  bring  such  immigrants  into  full  sympathy  with 
our  sentiments,  into  perfect  harmony  with  our  institutions. 

Within  the  last  twenty  years  all  this  has  changed.  Our 
immigrants  are  no  longer  mainly  Protestants.  A  majority  of 
them  no  longer  come  from  the  country  whose  language  we 
speak,  by  whose  literature  our  minds  are  formed,  from  whom 
we  have  borrowed  the  habeas  corpus,  trial  by  jury,  represen 
tative  government,  and  the  common  law.  We  receive  now, 
with  a  great  many  estimable,  industrious,  self-respecting 
people,  the  very  dregs  and  scum  of  the  population  of  Europe. 
All  that  is  benighted  by  ignorance  —  all  that  is  debased  by 
superstition  —  all  that  is  squalid  by  poverty  —  all  that  is 
besotted  by  intemperance  —  all  that  is  detestable  in  morals  — 
all  that  is  odious  and  abominable  by  crime  —  have,  for  the 
last  few  years,  been  poured  upon  our  shores,  to  taint  our  moral 
atmosphere,  and  add  to  the  corruption  of  our  large  cities. 
Without  any  knowledge  of  our  institutions  —  without  even  any 
acquaintance  with  our  language,  they  are  invested  with  the 
most  sacred  of  our  political  privileges  —  the  elective  franchise 
—  and  either  sell  their  votes  directly  to  demagogues  for  some 
paltry  bribe,  or  yield  them  indirectly  through  the  influence 
of  priests,  whose  wishes  they  are  too  superstitious  to  resist. 
If  our  fathers  thought  it  necessary  to  guard  so  carefully 
against  foreign  influence  when  our  immigrants,  comparatively 
few  in  numbers,  were  of  our  own  blood  and  lineage,  our  own 
language  and  religion,  and  our  own  habits  of  thought,  who  can 
consistently  say  that  the  necessity  is  not  greatly  enhanced,  when, 
besides  the  alarming  increase  of  numbers,  the  character  of  our 
foreign  population  has  become  so  much  changed  for  the  worse  ? 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

Another  consideration  of  great  weight  in  this  connection,  is 
derived  from  the  local  laws  of  the  several  States  at  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  passage  of  the  present 
naturalization  law.  It  is  well  known  that  the  State  Consti 
tutions  then  required  a  property  qualification  of  some  kind, 
generally  a  freehold,  as  preliminary  to  the  right  of  suffrage. 
At  that  time  an  alien,  when  naturalized,  did  not  necessarily 
become  a  voter.  Under  the  then  existing  State  regulations, 
none  of  that  class  of  foreigners  whose  abuse  of  the  elective 
franchise  has  given  origin  to  the  American  party,  would  have 
been  suffered  to  approach  a  ballot-box.  None  except  those 
who  had  some  stake  in  the  government  were  allowed  a  voice 
in  its  policy.  The  extension  of  suffrage  till  it  has,  in  most  of 
the  States,  become  universal,  seems  a  wise  change,  when 
considered  in  relation  to  our  native  population.  With  the 
enlightened  love  of  country  which  springs  from  American 
birth  and  education;  with  the  habits  of  industry,  thrift  and 
enterprise  so  characteristic  of  our  people,  which  makes  the 
acquisition  of  property  and  social  position  the  common  aim  of 
all ;  universal  suffrage  is  not  only  free  from  danger,  but  is  as 
wise  and  just  as  it  is  safe.  But  the  great  increase  of  an  igno 
rant  and  debased  foreign  population  creates  an  imperative 
necessity  for  either  restoring  the  property  qualification,  or 
altering  the  naturalization  laws.  At  all  events,  it  must  be 
admitted,  that  naturalized  citizens  wield  far  more  political 
power,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  than  if  the  possession 
of  a  freehold  had  remained  a  qualification  for  the  right  of  suf 
frage.  The  law  as  it  stands  was  framed  with  reference  to  a 
different  condition  of  things  from  that  in  which  it  now  operates. 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

When  it  was  enacted,  our  foreign  population  was  neither  so 
numerous,  so  ignorant,  nor  so  dissimilar  to  ourselves  as  it  has 
since  become ;  nor  was  it  immediately  invested  with  the  right 
of  suffrage,  by  the  mere  possession  of  naturalization  papers; 
and,  above  all,  the  country  at  that  time  had  no  experience 
of  the  abuses  of  which  we  have  been  witnesses  within  a  more 
recent  period. 

To  remedy  the  evils  introduced  into  the  politics  of  the 
country  by  demagogues  who  pander  to  the  prejudices  and 
purchase  the  votes  of  foreigners  —  to  remove  the  corruption 
which  taints  the  fountains  of  power  —  to  restore  to  Americans 
the  influence  which  rightfully  belongs  to  them  in  the  govern 
ment  of  their  own  country  —  to  rekindle  the  fires  of  patriotism, 
and  foster  that  national  spirit  which  is  at  once  the  cheapest 
defence  of  the  country  and  the  surest  conservator  of  its  insti 
tutions —  these  are  the  purposes  of  the  American  party,  which 
now  enters  the  field  for  the  first  time  with  a  candidate  for  the 
highest  office  of  the  government.  That  candidate  having  been 
selected,  it  is  thought  that  a  simple  and  impartial  recital  of 
the  leading  events  of  his  life  will  be  acceptable  to  the 
American  people. 

The  task  of  preparing  the  following  unpretending  sketch 
has  devolved  on  the  present  writer,  in  consequence  of  the 
absence  from  the  country  of  the  gentleman  whose  literary 
talents  and  long  personal  association  with  Mr.  FILLMORE  would 
render  him  the  most  suitable  biographer  of  his  distinguished 
friend.  I  refer  to  Dr.  THOMAS  M.  FOOTE,  late  Minister  to 
Austria;  Avho,  summer  before  last,  was  urgently  solicited  by 
some  of  Mr.  FILLMORE'S  friends  to  write  the  history  of  his 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

administration.  He  at  length  yielded  to  their  persuasions, 
and  promised  to  prosecute  the  work.  The  writer  of  these 
pages,  then  in  habits  of  daily  intimacy  with  Dr.  FOOTE,  had 
frequent  conversations  with  him  relating  to  the  plan,  topics, 
arrangement,  and  mode  of  execution  of  the  proposed  history, 
and  was  to  have  assisted  him  in  the  composition  of  some  of  its 
chapters.  The  preparation  of  the  work  for  the  press  was 
postponed  during  the  autumn  of  1854  and  the  following 
winter,  in  consequence  of  Dr.  FOOTE'S  feeble  health,  and 
during  the  summer  of  1855,  by  his  occupation  in  superintend 
ing  the  building  of  a  new  house.  All  this  while,  however,  it 
continued  to  be  a  frequent  topic  of  conversation;  and  when, 
last  fall,  Dr.  FOOTE  left  the  country  on  his  present  European 
tour,  there  seemed  a  propriety,  if,  during  his  absence,  circum 
stances  should  render  advisable  the  publication  of  a  brief 
sketch  of  Mr.  FILLMORE'S  life,  that  I  should  be  entrusted  with 
its  preparation.  By  abridging  the  materials  Dr.  FOOTE  would 
have  used  in  a  larger  and  less  ephemeral  work,  and  giving 
more  fullness  and  prominence  than  he  had  intended  to  Mr. 
FILLMORE'S  early  history,  and  his  public  life  previous  to  his 
elevation  to  the  Presidency,  it  was  thought  that  a  more 
authentic  and  acceptable  biography  could  be  written,  than 
would  be  likely  to  be  produced  by  any  person  not  conversant 
with  Dr.  FOOTE'S  plan,  and  without  access  to  his  materials. 

I  have  deemed  it  proper  to  make  these  statements,  partly 
as  an  apology  to  the  reader,  but  principally  to  enable  him  to 
judge  of  the  authenticity  of  the  following  hastily  written 
sketch,  by  the  opportunities  the  writer  has  enjoyed  for  ac 
quiring  correct  information. 


BIOGRAPHY 

O  P 

MILLAED   FILLMOKE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HIS    BIRTH,    ANCESTORS,    AND    EARLY    LIFE. 

MILLARD  FILLMORE  was  born  in  Western  New  York,  in  the 
township  of  Locke,  Cayuga  county,  on  the  7th  of  January, 
1800.  This  settlement  in  the  wilderness  was  at  that  time  so 
new,  that  his  father  was  compelled,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
birth,  to  walk  seven  miles  in  the  woods,  in  the  dead  of  night, 
to  the  nearest  physician,  through  a  fresh  fallen  snow  half  knee 
deep,  with  wolves  howling  on  either  side  of  him  as  he  pressed 
on  his  errand.  Not  only  Mr.  Fillmore's  father,  but  his  ances 
tors,  for  three  generations,  were  pioneers  in  the  forest:  the  fam 
ily  being  a  true  type  of  the  hardy  enterprise  of  American 
character,  whose  early  mission  on  this  continent  was  to  subdue 
the  wilderness,  and  nourish,  amid  severe  labors,  that  manly 
self-reliance  without  which  the  world  would  never  have  heard 
of  American  Independence  or  American  Institutions.  The 
noble  oak  which  stands  erect  and  defies  the  tornado,  is  nur 
tured  by  no  green-house  culture,  shoots  up  with  no  mushroom 
rapidity,  but  is  slowly  elaborated  by  centuries  of  exposure,  its 
fibres  becoming  tough  and  firm  by  long  resistance  to  the  rock 
ing  of  rude  storms.  And  so  with  a  national  character,  that  has 
the  elements  of  bold  enterprise,  and  stable,  enduring  greatness. 


18  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

It  is  formed  and  consolidated  by  long  struggles  with  hardship 
and  difficulty.  The  unbroken  forest  which  our  fathers  en 
countered  on  these  shores,  and  which  it  was  one  of  their  chief 
labors  to  fell  and  clear,  was  the  school  ordained  by  Providence 
for  the  acquisition  of  the  self-relying  and  invincible  energy,  and 
severe  self-denial,  which  carried  the  country  through  the  trials 
of  the  Revolution,  and  infused  a  taste  for  the  manly  simplicity 
of  a  republican  government.  The  sturdy  strokes  of  the  pio 
neer's  axe  not  only  felled  the  forest,  but  formed  his  own 
character.  Of  this  peculiarly  American  labor  the  ancestors  of 
Millard  Fillmore  performed  their  full  share,  transmitting  from 
generation  to  generation  the  manly  firmness,  vigor,  and  self- 
reliance,  the  strong  practical  sense  and  moral  robustness,  to 
-which  the  subject  of  this  biography  is  indebted  for  his  eminent 
position. 

Mr.  Fillmore's  ancestry,  which  had  taken  root  in  American 
soil  at  least  four  generations  before  his  birth,  affords  so  favor 
able  an  exemplification  of  American  character,  and  furnishes 
so  many  interesting  incidents,  that  the  reader  will  willingly 
allow  us  to  detain  him  while  we  briefly  sketch  its  history. 

The  early  town  records  of  Essex  county,  Massachusetts, 
enable  us  to  date  the  commencement  of  our  narrative  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  If  we  occasionally  copy  the 
quaint  spelling  of  the  old  town  clerks,  we  shall  perhaps  convey 
a  more  distinct  impression  of  those  olden  times. 

John  Fillmore,  "say lor,"  married  Abagail,  daughter  of 
Abraham  and  Deliverance  Tilton,  of  Ipswich,  June  19th, 
1701.  Their  children  were  John,  born  in  Ipswich,  March  18lh, 
1702  ;  Ebenezer,  born  in  Beverly,  and  baptized  in  Wenham, 
July  21st,  1706  ;  and  Abagail,  born  likewise  in  Beverly,  and 
baptized  in  Wenham,  August  1st,  1708.  The  difference  be 
tween  the  places  of  birth  and  baptism  of  the  two  youngest 
of  these  children,  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  church 
in  Wenham  was  the  one  nearest  the  residence  of  their  parents, 


PARENTAGE   AND   ANCESTORS.  19 

the  North  Parish  in  Beverly,  to  which  the  mother  afterwards 
belonged,  not  being  organized  till  December,  1715.  No  men 
tion  is  made  of  the  baptism  of  John,  the  eldest  son,  as  his 
mother  did  not  unite  with  the  church  until  1705,  three  years 
after  his  birth. 

By  a  deed  executed  November  24th,  1704,  "Luke  Perkins, 
blacksmith,  and  Martha,  his  wife,"  conveyed  for  £50  to  "John 
Fillmore,  mariner,"  a  house  and  barn  and  two  acres  of  land 
on  the  road  from  Wenham  to  Beverly,  near  Wenham  pond. 
Abagail  Fillmore,  though  called  "widow"  in  1711,  did  not 
administer  on  her  husband's  estate  till  1715.  This  delay  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  being  a  "  saylor  "  or  "  mariner," 
he  died  at  sea,  and  a  long  interval  elapsed  before  legal  evidence 
was  obtained  of  his  decease.  It  was  at  length  ascertained  that  on 
a  homeward  voyage  the  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  was  captured 
by  a  French  frigate,  and  the  crew  carried  prisoners  to  Martin 
ique,  where  they  suffered  all  the  hardships  of  a  close  and  cruel 
confinement.  This  was  during  Queen  Anne's  war,  which  was 
terminated  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713.  Before  the  end 
of  the  war,  these  prisoners  were  exchanged,  but  nearly  all  of 
them,  John  Fillmore  among  the  rest,  died  on  board  the  cartel- 
ship  on  their  passage  home,  a  circumstance  which  gave  rise 
to  the  suspicion  that  they  were  poisoned  by  the  French. 

The  property  of  which  his  widow  was  appointed  adminis 
tratrix,  consisted  of  the  real  estate  already  mentioned,  which 
was  valued  by  the  appraisers  at  the  £50  for  which  it  was  pur 
chased,  and  personal  property  valued  at  £22  13s.  6d.,  including 
"  one  bible  and  sermon  books."  Abagail  Fillmore,  the  widow, 
who  was  again  married  in  Beverly,  November  7th,  1717,  to 
Robert  Bell,  relinquished  the  administration  of  her  former 
husband's  estate,  in  March,  1723,  when  her  eldest  son,  John, 
became  of  age,  who  was  then  appointed  administrator,  "  Abra 
ham  Tilton,  carpenter,  and  William  Young,  fisherman,"  being 
his  sureties.  By  a  decree  of  the  court,  the  real  estate  is 


20  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAED   FILLMOKE. 

conveyed  to  John  Fillmore,  who  immediately  conveys  it  to 
other  parties  whose  names  and  occupations  are  preserved  in  the 
old  records. 

This  Fillmore  estate  in  Beverly  belonged,  in  1850,  to  Col. 
Jesse  Sheldon,  and  is  situated  near  the  North  Beverly  station 
on  the  Eastern  Railroad.  The  house  had  not  been  standing 
for  many  years,  but  the  cellar  was  filled  up  by  Col.  Sheldon 
after  he  became  owner  of  the  field.  The  well  was  still  in  a 
good  state  of  preservation  in  1850,  and  the  cinders,  yet  visible 
about  the  premises,  bore  witness  to  their  having  been  occupied 
by  "  Luke  Perkins,  blacksmith,"  the  original  owner  who  deeded 
it  to  John  Fillmore,  the  elder.  There  is  a  tradition  that  Whit- 
field  held  one  of  his  famous  revival  meetings  in  the  house. 

We  have  omitted  to  mention  a  most  daring  and  remarkable 
exploit,  which  we  will  now  describe.     After  the  death  of  his 
father,  John   Fillmore  was   apprenticed   by  his   mother  to   a 
carpenter.     Like  most  boys  in  humble  life  who  listen  to  the 
conversation  of  sailors,  he  was  seized   with  a  passion  for  the 
sea.     Besides  the  dangers  of  a  sea-faring  life,  the  melancholy 
fate  of  his  father  furnished  his  mother  with  reasons  for  resist 
ing  his  inclination,  and  detaining  him   at  his   trade.     Though 
he  yielded  to  her  wishes,  he  could  not  repress  his  thirst  for 
adventure,  and  he  continued  to  importune  her  to  allow  him  to 
make  a  voyage.     As  he  approached  his  majority,  his  mother, 
finding    his   passion   for   a   sailor's   life   unabated,  reluctantly 
yielded  her  consent  to  its  indulgence,  on  condition  that  instead 
of  going  to  the  West  Indies,  with  which  the  commerce  of  the 
colonies  was  mostly  carried  on,  he  would  merely  make  a  fishing 
voyage    to    the    banks    of    Newfoundland.      He    accordingly 
shipped  for  a  fishing  voyage  on  board  the  sloop  Dolphin,  of 
Cape  Ann,  Mark   Haskell,  skipper.     The   sloop   had  scarcely 
reached    her  destination,  when   she  was    surprised    by  what 
proved  to  be  a  pirate  ship,  commanded  by  John  Phillips,  a 
noted  pirate  who  then   infested  the  American  waters.     The 


A   DARING   EXPLOIT.  21 

discovery  was  made  too  late  for  escape;  the  crew  was  too 
weak  to  resist;  and  Haskell  could  only  abide  his  fate  and 
quietly  await  the  event.  When  the  pirate  came  alongside,  a 
boat  was  sent  to  the  sloop,  demanding  of  its  master  who  he 
was  and  where  he  was  bound.  From  this  boat's  crew  Haskell 
learned  the  character  of  the  ship  which  had  approached  him. 
His  crew,  being  mostly  young,  were  struck  with  consternation 
on  finding  that  they  were  in  the  power  of  Captain  Phillips, 
the  notorious  pirate,  from  whose  cruelty  they  had  everything 
to  dread. 

They  were  soon  boarded  by  another  boat  from  the  pirate, 
among  whose  crew  Fillmore  recognized  a  young  man,  three 
years  his  senior,  named  White,  whom  he  had  formerly  known 
as  a  tailor's  apprentice.  When  this  boat  returned  to  the  ship, 
Phillips  ascertained  that  there  was  no  property  which  he  wanted 
on  board  the  sloop,  but  White  mentioned  young  Fillmore  to 
him,  describing  him  as  a  bold,  stout,  resolute  fellow,  who  would 
make  a  valuable  addition  to  his  crew.  Phillips  accordingly 
sent  a  boat  again  to  the  sloop,  demanding  the  surrender  of 
Fillmore,  and  saying  that  the  rest  of  the  crew  might  go  free. 
Fillmore  remonstrated  with  Haskell  against  his  surrender,  and 
after  some  hesitation,  it  was  decided  that  he  should  not  be 
given  up  let  the  consequences  be  what  they  might.  When 
the  boat  returned  without  him,  Phillips  was  greatly  incensed, 
and  sent  again  with  orders  to  bring  Fillmore  either  dead  or 
alive,  but  offering,  if  he  would  come  voluntarily,  to  release 
him  at  the  end  of  two  months.  Though  placing  little  confi 
dence  in  the  pirate's  word,  the  thought  of  relieving  the  rest  of 
the  crew  from  danger,  induced  him  to  trust  to  future  chances 
of  escape,  and  he  reluctantly  consented  to  go. 

He  was  conscientious  as  well  as  stout-hearted,  and  immedi 
ately  resolved  that  no  extremity  of  peril  should  induce  him  to 
sign  the  piratical  articles.  Destruction  seemed  to  stare  him  in 
the  face,  and  he  was  full  of  apprehension,  which  only  showed 


22  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAKD    FILLMORE. 

that  the  inexperienced  young  man  did  not  understand  human 
nature  as  well  as  his  captors.  They,  ten  in  number,  were  all 
picked  men — a  set  of  the  most  daring  and  hardy  looking  fel 
lows  young  Fiilmore  had  ever  set  his  eyes  on.  From  White's 
description  they  had  formed  the  opinion  that  he  would  make 
a  worthy  compeer  in  the  bold  qualities  on  which  they  prided 
themselves,  and  they  wished  to  secure  themselves  against 
treachery  by  winning  his  voluntary  consent  to  their  wicked 
partnership.  He  was  therefore  agreeably  surprised  to  find 
that  they  did  not  urge  him  very  strenuously  to  sign  their  arti 
cles,  that  they  uttered  no  threats,  and  used  arguments  rather 
of  a  persuasive  than  of  a  compulsory  nature.  The  captain 
renewed  his  promise  to  release  him  at  the  end  of  two  months, 
and  young  Fiilmore,  assuming  an  appearance  of  satisfaction, 
engaged  to  serve  him  during  that  term  to  the  best  of  his  abil 
ities.  He  was  however  placed  at  the  helm,  the  most  labori 
ous  post  on  the  ship,  and  made  to  feel  that  his  failure  to  sign 
the  piratical  agreement  had  increased  the  hardships  of  his 
condition. 

During  the  first  two  months  no  captures  were  made,  except 
of  some  small  vessels  whose  loading  was  too  inconsiderable  to 
tempt  the  cupidity  of  the  pirates. 

When,  at  the  expiration  of  his  time,  Fiilmore  reminded  the 
captain  of  his  promise  to  release  him,  he  was  told  that  little 
business  had  been  done  since  he  came  aboard,  and  that  he 
could  not  yet  be  spared.  Phillips,  however,  promised,  "  on  his 
honor,"  to  set  him  free  if  he  would  serve  faithfully  three 
months  longer.  There  was  no  alternative,  and  he  was  com 
pelled  to  comply. 

During  those  three  months  there  were  no  noteworthy  occur 
rences.  A  few  small  vessels  were  taken  and  plundered,  but 
their  cargoes  were  of  little  value,  and  their  crews  dismissed 
unharmed  except  two  or  three  robust  stout-looking  men,  whom 
Phillips  selected  and  compelled  to  sign  his  articles. 


A   DARING   EXPLOIT.  23 

When  Fillmore  again  demanded  his  liberty,  he  was  answered 
by  such  oaths  and  imprecations  as  only  a  pirate  could  use. 
Abandoning  all  hope  of  ever  being  liberated  by  the  clemency 
of  the  captain,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  endure  his  condition 
with  as  much  fortitude  as  possible,  and  consoled  himself  with 
the  hope  that  prisoners  might  some  day  be  taken  in  concert 
with  whom  he  could  effect  his  release.  From  this  time  his 
sufferings  and  hardships  were  of  the  most  aggravated  charac 
ter.  One  day,  when  bearing  down  on  a  merchant  vessel, 
Phillips  flew  into  a  rage  because  Fillmore  did  not  steer  skill 
fully,  and  swinging  his  broadsword  around  his  head,  cut 
eleven  holes  through  his  hat  and  the  skin  underneath.  They 
chased  the  vessel  during  the  whole  day,  and  when,  at  night, 
they  lost  sight  of  her,  the  captain  laid  all  the  blame  on  Fill- 
more,  and  abused  him  accordingly.  .  Our  space  does  not  allow 
us  to  give  the  details  of  his  subsequent  sufferings  and  his 
narrow  escapes  from  death,  an  account  of  which  has  long  been 
in  print.  After  many  trials,  there  were  on  board  the  pirate 
ship  two  individuals  besides  Fillmore  who  had  not  signed  the 
piratical  articles.  Taking  advantage  of  a  drunken  carousal  by 
which  the  pirates  celebrated  a  recent  success,  these  three  per 
sons  concerted  a  plan  for  destroying  the  pirates  and  getting 
possession  of  the  ship.  By  burning  the  feet  of  some  while 
they  were  dead  drunk,  so  as  to  disable  them,  and  despatching 
others,  including  the  captain,  with  the  ship  carpenter's  axes, 
they  got  the  upper  hand  of  the  pirates,  and  with  the  aid  of 
some  prisoners  on  board,  consisting  of  Frenchmen  and  negroes, 
they  carried  the  vessel  safely  into  Boston.  Of  the  pirates  who 
were  brought  in,  two  were  executed  in  this  country,  and  the 
rest  sent  to  England  with  the  forfeited  vessel.  Fillmore  had 
been  nine  months  on  board  the  ship,  and  the  Court  of  Admi 
ralty,  presided  over  by  Lieutenant  Governor  Drummond, 
which  tried  and  condemned  the  pirates,  expressed  its  sense  of 
the  daring  young  man's  valor  by  giving  him  "  Captain  Phillips' 


2i  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

gun,  silver-hilted  sword,  silver  shoe  and  knee  buckles,  a  curious 
tobacco  box,  and  two  gold  rings  that  the  pirate  Captain  Phil 
lips  used  to  wear."  White  and  Archer,  two  of  the  pirates, 
were  executed  June  2d,  1724,  probably  one  or  both  of  them 
in  chains,  as  we  find  the  bill  of  Robert  Dobney,  "  smith,"  for 
"  makeing  of  the  chaines  for  John  Rose  Archer,  one  of  the 
pyratcs,  and  the  hire  of  a  man  to  fix  him  on  the  Gebbet  at 
Bird  Island." 

The  Ipswich  town  records  show  that  John  Fillmore  was 
married,  in  the  early  part  of  the  following  winter,  to  Mary 
Spiller.  He  subsequently  emigrated,  with  his  wife,  to  Frank 
lin,  in  Connecticut,  then  a  part  of  Norwich,  where  a  number 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Ipswich  had  purchased  a  large  tract,  of 
land  to  which  some  of  them  removed.  Here  the  great-grand 
father  of  the  ex-president,  glad  to  abandon  the  sea,  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  days  in  clearing  the  wilderness,  and  cultivat 
ing  a  new  farm. 

His  son  Nathaniel,  while  yet  a  youth,  left  the  paternal  roof 
to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  wilds  of  Vermont,  and  settled  in 
Bennington,  where  he  afterwards  married,  and  reared  a  fam 
ily  of  six  children,  all  of  whom,  with  one  exception,  are  still 
living.  That  one  died,  a  few  years  ago,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
one,  and  the  average  age  of  the  five  survivors,  including  the 
venerable  father  of  the  ex-president,  who  is  eighty-five,  is  up 
wards  of  eighty  years.  This  remarkable  longevity  is  a  bless 
ing  inherited  from  progenitors  whose  constitutions  were  impaired 
by  no  vices,  and  rendered  robust  by  temperate  habits  and 
manly  toil.  This  Nathaniel  Fillmore  fought  as  a  lieutenant 
under  General  Stark  in  the  battle  of  Bennington.  His  son 
Nathaniel,  the  father  of  Millard,  who  was  then  a  boy  of  six 
years,  has  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  noise  of  the  guns  dur 
ing  the  battle,  having  been  at  play,  at  the  time,  with  other 
little  boys  whose  fathers  were  likewise  in  the  engagement  He 
says  their  mothers  were  assembled  at  the  house  of  a  neighbor, 


BATTLE    OF   BENNINGTON.  25 

listening  in  anxiety  and  terror  to  the  sound  of  the  battle, 
and  when  the  boys  came  trooping  in,  in  excellent  spirits,  and 
were  asked  by  one  of  these  weeping  wives  if  they  were  not 
afraid  their  fathers  would  be  killed,  they  promptly  answered, 
"No:  they  knew  their  fathers  were  more  than  a  match  for  the 
regulars."  After  having  fought  in  his  country's  defence, 
Nathaniel  Fillmore  continued  to  reside  at  Bennington,  enjoying 
the  independence  he  had  helped  purchase,  till  he  ended  his 
days  in  1814. 

Nathaniel  Fillmore,  his  son,  who  was  born  at  Bennington, 
on  the  19th  of  April,  17 71,  removed,  in  early  life,  into  Western 
New  York,  which  was  then  a  wilderness,  and  settled  in  Cayuga 
county.  He  married  Phebe  Millard,  daughter  of  Doctor  Abi- 
ather  Millard,  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  a  woman  of  native 
intellect,  grace,  and  refinement,  which,  in  a  more  exalted  social 
rank,  would  have  attracted  general  homage.  Mr.  Fillmore  is 
no  exception  to  the  rule  that  distinguished  men  have  generally 
had  superior  mothers.  Married  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen, 
she  at  once  evinced  all  the  judgment  of  a  mature  and  experi 
enced  woman  in  managing  her  domestic  affairs,  and  counseling 
her  husband  in  the  difficulties  of  his  hard  pioneer  life.  Never 
was  a  mother  more  loved  and  venerated  by  her  children,  and 
though  she  has  been  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  her  grave,  her 
son,  whose  national  reputation  she  did  not  live  to  witness,  can 
not  even  now  mention  her  without  evident  emotion.  Not  long 
after  the  birth  of  Millard,  her  husband  lost  his  property  by  a 
bad  title  to  the  military  lands  he  had  purchased,  and  removed 
in  1802  to  Sempronius,  (now  Niles,)  in  Cayuga  county,  where 
he  resided  till  1819,  when  he  removed  to  Aurora,  about 
eighteen  miles  from  Buffalo,  where  he  still  resides,  and  where, 
until  within  the  last  few  years,  he  cultivated  a  small  farm  with 
his  own  hands. 

We  have  been  thus  particular  in  tracing  the  history  of  Mr. 
Fillmore's  ancestors,  because  the  party  by  which  he  has  been 


26  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLAED    FILLMOKE. 

nominated  will  feel  a  just  pride  in  knowing  that  lie  is  descended 
from  a  long  line  of  virtuous,  hardy,  patriotic  and  purely  Am 
erican  progenitors,  whose  character  was  formed  by  purely 
American  influences.  Including  the  son  of  the  ex-president, 
the  family  can  be  traced  on  American  soil  for  six  generations, 
and,  as  has  been  said  of  that  of  Washington,  its  history  gives 
proof  "  of  the  lineal  and  enduring  worth  of  the  race."  Though 
none  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  ancestors  rose  to  wealth  or  high  public 
station,  none  of  them  fell  below  the  standard  of  industrious  and 
virtuous  respectability,  and  when  brought  to  the  test,  the  fam 
ily  has  always  acquitted  itself  with  courage,  firmness,  and 
honor.  "  Hereditary  rank  may  be  an  illusion  ;  but  HEREDITARY 
VIRTUE  gives  a  patent  of  innate  nobleness  beyond  all  the 
blazonry  of  the  Herald's  College."* 

Millard  remained  with  his  father  till  he  was  about  fifteen 
years  of  age.  During  his  early  childhood  he  was  a  sickly  and 
somewhat  backward  boy,  but  when  his  constitution  began  to 
acquire  more  vigor,  he  evinced  that  love  of  reading  and  eager 
appetite  for  knowledge  by  which  a  superior  mind  usually  gives 
the  first  indications  of  its  existence.  The  limited  means  of  his 
father  prevented  his  enjoying  any  advantages  of  education 
beyond  the  common  schools  of  his  neighborhood,  which,  from 
the  newness  of  the  country,  were  probably  not  of  a  very 
high  order.  He  rapidly  acquired  all  that  his  teachers  had  to 
impart,  and  devoured,  in  the  intervals  of  farm  labor,  every 
stray  book  thnt  fell  in  his  \vay.  This,  assuredly,  was  not  a 
superior  education ;  but  it  has  been  substantially  the  education 
of  a  great  majority  of  American  youth,  since  the  first  settle 
ment  of  the  country.  Washington's  early  education  was  no 
better;  Franklin's  not  as  good;  and  for  a  really  robust  mind, 
the  kind  of  training  it  affords  is  not  without  its  advantages. 
In  such  minds  it  fosters  that  strong  intellectual  thirst  which 

*  Trving's  Life  of  Washington. 


EARLY   EDUCATION.  27 

is  indispensable  to  the  successful  pursuit  of  knowledge,  and 
without  which  all  schools,  and  all  the  elaborate  appliances  of 
instruction,  are  idle  and  unavailing.  The  mind  is  not,  as  in 
many  institutions  of  learning,  set  to  studying  subjects  which 
are  either  above  its  capacity,  or  in  which  it  feels  no  interest ; 
it  never,  therefore,  becomes  cloyed  or  discouraged;  curiosity 
is  never  blunted ;  and  the  keen  mental  hunger  which  results 
from  scanty  aliment,  not  only  keeps  the  attention  vigorously 
awake  during  the  process  of  acquisition,  but  in  the  long  inter 
vals  of  labor,  leads  the  mind  back  to  the  ground  it  has  gone 
over,  and  cultivates  that  habit  of  reflecting  on  one's  knowledge, 
without  which  it  is  of  little  use.  It  is  a  hard  discipline,  but 
many  great  minds  have  been  formed  by  it;  and  no  American 
youth,  with  the  examples  before  him  which  the  history  of  his 
country  affords,  need  despair,  if  he  has  brains  and  resolution, 
of  acquiring  all  the  information  requisite  for  eminent  useful 
ness.  Not  that  colleges  are  either  useless  or  unimportant; 
but  they  have  nothing  better  to  impart  than  a  keen  appetite 
for  knowledge,  energetic  mental  action,  and  confirmed  habits 
of  reflection.  These  are  the  keys  of  the  temple  of  science,  and 
whoever  possesses  them  has  nature's  diploma,  whether  he  has 
or  has  not  been  honored  with  a  college  parchment. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen,  Millard  was  sent  to  learn  the  clothier's 
trade,  a  business  which,  as  then  conducted,  furnished  employ 
ment  during  only  a  portion  of  the  year.  When  he  had 
remained  four  months  with  his  master,  he  returned  home  to 
spend  the  winter,  and  earnestly  remonstrated  with  his  father 
against  being  sent  back,  assigning  as  a  reason  that  he  wished 
to  learn  the  trade,  but  had  been  kept,  a  great  part  pf  the 
time,  at  other  employments.  Thus  early  did  he  display  one 
of  the  leading  characteristics  to  which  he  is  indebted  for  his 
success  in  life  —  impatience  of  doing  things  by  halves,  or 
of  pretending  to  do  a  thing  and  not  doing  it  thoroughly. 
His  father  considered  his  request  reasonable  and  granted  it, 


28  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAED   FILLMOEE. 

promising  to  find  him  another  place.  Mr.  Fillraore  had  a  near 
neighbor  who  was  a  clothier,  but  he  declined  to  take  Millard, 
because  he  had  already  as  many  apprentices  as  he  could 
employ.  The  father,  therefore,  rode  several  days  for  the 
purpose  of  looking  up  a  place,  but  without  any  success. 
Some  time  afterwards,  one  of  his  neighbor's  apprentices  was 
taken  sick,  and  he  applied  for  Millard's  services  for  a  few 
weeks  till  he  should  recover.  Millard  was  permitted  to  go. 
and  during  those  few  weeks  showed  so  much  assiduity,  and 
proved  himself  so  capable,  that  his  employer  was  unwilling  to 
part  with  him,  and  applied  to  his  father  to  have  him  remain 
as  an  apprentice.  An  arrangement  was  soon  agreed  upon,  it 
being  one  of  the  stipulations  that  the  boy  should  work  for  his 
master  only  when  employed  on  the  business  he  went  to  learn, 
and  that  the  rest  of  the  time  his  services  should  belong  to  his 
father.  No  indenture  was  drawn,  each  party  considering  the 
word  of  the  other  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  the  fulfillment  of 
the  conditions. 

While  learning  his  trade,  young  Fillmore  taught  school 
winters,  and  very  soon  becoming  qualified  for  a  teacher,  he 
was  employed  in  that  capacity,  and  for  several  years  occa 
sionally  eked  out  his  scanty  means  by  this  laborious  but  useful 
occupation.  As  his  faculties  unfolded  with  increasing  years, 
the  youth  began  to  feel  a  dawning  consciousness  that  he  was 
born  for  a  higher  destiny  than  carding  wool  and  dressing 
cloth.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  attracted  the  favorable 
attention  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  late  Walter  Wood, 
Esq.,  of  Cayuga  county,  who  discovered,  beneath  the  rude 
exterior  of  the  clothier's  apprentice,  indications  of  superior 
talent,  which  he  urged  him  to  cultivate.  By  the  assistance 
of  this  estimable  gentleman,  he  was  enabled,  with  the  consent 
of  his  father,  to  buy  his  time  and  devote  himself  to  study. 
He  was  received  into  the  office  of  Judge  Wood,  who  had  a 
large  law  library,  though  he  did  but  little  professional  business, 


LAW   STUDIES.  29 

being  principally  occupied  in  the  management  of  a  large 
estate.  Here  young  Fillmore  read  law  and  general  literature, 
and,  like  Washington  at  the  same  age,  he  found  employment 
as  a  surveyor  on  the  ^new  lands  of  his  patron.  By  the  occa 
sional  practice  of  surveying,  and  teaching  school  a  part  of  the 
year,  he  avoided  incurring  a  larger  debt  to  his  benefactor  than 
he  was  able  afterwards  easily  to  pay. 

In  the  fall  of  1821,  Mr.  Fillmore  removed  to  Erie  county, 
and  the  next  spring  entered  a  law  office  in  Buffalo,  maintain 
ing  himself  by  teaching  school  while  pursuing  his  legal  studies. 
After  a  year  passed  in  this  laborious  manner,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  the  spring  of  1823.  He 
immediately  removed  to  the  village  of  Aurora,  where  he 
opened  an  office,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession. 

Such  was  the  early  life  of  a  man  who  was  subsequently 
honored  with  responsible  civil  trusts,  rose  to  fill  the  highest 
office  of  the  country  in  a  great  and  memorable  crisis,  and  now 
ranks  among  the  most  eminent  statesmen  of  his  time.  His 
youth  was  marked  by  prudence,  energy,  perseverance,  and 
good  sense,  and  gave  evidence  of  talent;  but  though  it  showed 
the  promptings  of  a  moderate  and  reasonable  ambition,  it 
afforded  no  indications  from  which  even  a  sagacious  observer 
could  have  predicted  Mr.  Fillmore's  present  eminence.  He 
was  like  one  of  those  sites  in  the  vast  and  then  uncultivated 
West,  which  have  since  risen  to  be  great  cities  and  important 
marts  of  trade.  When  Millard  Fillmore  was  a  boy  in  the 
backwoods,  land  in  Buffalo  or  Chicago  would  have  brought 
no  higher  price  in  the  market  than  millions  of  acres  of  the 
surrounding  country.  The  men  who  first  got  a  glimpse  of  its 
capabilities,  and  laid  out  village  lots,  showed  by  the  prices  at 
which  they  sold  them,  that  they  had  no  suspicion  of  the  im 
mense  fortune  which  was  passing  out  of  their  hands.  Who 
was  there,  at  that  early  day,  that  could  have  picked  out  the 


30  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 

particular  acres  whose  value  would  be  a  thousand  fold  of  that 
of  the  average  acres  of  the  boundless  West?  Or  who,  from 
the  great  mass  of  humble  and  laborious  American  youth,  could 
have  then  selected  the  particular  one  that  should  win  the 
highest  honors  of  the  Republic  ?  Who  would  have  suspected 
he  was  that  unassuming  young  man  who  has  just  gone  to  a 
country  village  to  establish  himself  as  a  lawyer?  But  the 
homespun  garb  of  that  young  man  covers  talents  which  will 
cause  us  to  hear  from  him  again  in  a  wider  theater. 


ELECTION   TO   THE   LEGISLATURE.  31 


CHAPTER  II. 


Mr.  Fillmore  continued  to  reside  at  Aurora  until  the  spring 
of  1830.  During  these  seven  years,  his  professional  practice, 
(as  would  be  inferred  from  his  location,  in  a  purely  agricultural 
district,)  was  not  large;  but  all  the  cases  in  which  he  was  em 
ployed  were  managed  with  so  much  ability  that  his  reputation 
as  a  lawyer  continued  steadily  to  rise,  until  it  attracted  the 
favorable  attention  of  his  professional  brethren  in  Buffalo, 
whither  he  was  induced  to  remove  by  the  offer  of  a  highly 
advantageous  connection  with  an  older  member  of  the  bar. 

During  his  residence  in  Aurora,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  married, 
in  1826,  to  Abagail,  daughter  of  Rev.  Lemuel  Powers,  a  lady 
of  great  moral  worth,  of  modest  and  unobtrusive  deportment, 
and  remarkable  intelligence  and  good  sense.  She  was  of 
Massachusetts  descent,  being  of  the  stock  of  the  Lelands,  and 
one  of  the  9,624  descendants  of  Henry  Leland,  of  Sherburne, 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  country.  In  the  Leland  family 
magazine,  published  in  1850,  the  names  of  all  its  members 
are  recorded,  and  among  other  well  executed  engravings,  it 
contains  a  likeness  of  Mrs.  Fillmore,  accompanied  by  a  brief 
sketch  of  her  life. 

Mr.  Fillmore's  first  appearance  in  public  life  was  during  his 
residence  in  Aurora.  In  the  fall  of  1828  he  had  become  so 
favorably  known  to  the  citizens  of  Erie  county,  that  he  was 
elected  as  their  representative  in  the  State  Legislature,  and 
took  his  scat  in  that  body  the  January  following.  In  the 


32  BIOGEAPHT   OF   MILLAKD    FILLMORE. 

"Political  History  of  New  York,"  written  by  Judge  Hammond, 
before  Mr.  Fillmore  had  become  much  known  in  national 
politics,  we  find  the  following  mention  of  his  entrance  into 
public  life:  "Several  of  the  western  counties  were  represented 
by  anti-masons;  and  among  the  most  prominent  of  them  were 
Millard  Fillmore,  from  Erie;  Philo  C.  Fuller,  of  Livingston 
and  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  of  Ontario." 

The  feet  that  Mr.  Fillmore  commenced  his  public  life  as  a 
prominent  member  of  the  anti-masonic  party,  which  had  then 
.  just  arisen  in  Western  New  York,  renders  it  proper  that  we 
should  make  a  few  observations  on  the  character  of  that  party. 
Mr.  Fillmore's  prominent  position  in  it  was  the  natural  con 
sequence  of  his  superior  talents;  the  fact  that  he  belonged  to 
it,  may  require  a  different  explanation. 

Had  it  not  been  for  recent  local  occurrences  of  remarkable 
atrocity,  which,  from  the  mystery  in  which  they  were  shrouded, 
inflamed  public  curiosity  in  proportion  as  they  baffled  the 
efforts  of  justice,  and  which  kept  the  whole  community  in  a 
furor  of  excitement  that  has  hardly  a  parallel  in  history, 
Mr.  Fillmore  would  have  regarded  the  masonic  order,  as  all 
just  minds  had  previously  regarded  it,  and  as  all  just  minds 
now  regard  it,  as  a  perfectly  innocent  and  harmless  institu 
tion  ;  in  fact,  merely  a  charitable  and  social  club,  designed  for 
the  promotion  of  good  feeling  among  its  members,  and  the 
relief  of  their  indigent  brethren.  It  is  an  ancient  institution, 
made  respectable  by  the  many  eminent  men  who  have  be 
longed  to  it;  and,  by  the  secrecy  of  its  proceedings,  appealing 
strongly  to  a  principle  of  human  nature,  which  has  displayed 
its  activity  in  every  age  of  the  world.  The  celebrated  Eleu- 
sinian  and  other  mysteries  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans;  the 
Esoteric  doctrines  of  the  ancient  philosophers;  the  sect  of 
Essenes  among  the  Jews;  the  Templars  of  the  middle  ages; 
the  order  of  Odd  Fellows  in  our  own  times,  and  the  secret 
societies  in  our  colleges,  are  illustrations  of  how  congenial  it  is 


ANTI-MASONRY.  33 

to  the  human  mind  to  participate  in  proceedings  from  all 
knowledo-e  of  which  curious  outsiders  are  excluded.  Provi- 

S 

ded  the  objects  of  such  societies  are  innocent  and  praiseworthy, 
their  secrecy  is  no  more  deserving  of  censure  than  is  that 
honorable  confidence  by  the  violation  of  which  one  would 
forfeit  his  claim  to  the  character  of  a  gentleman.  The 
secresy  of  the  Free  Masons  was,  therefore,  in  itself,  no  valid 
ground  of  objection  to  their  fraternity,  and  nothing  could  well 
have  been  more  frivolous  than  the  formation  of  a  party  merely 
to  oppose  this  feature  of  the  masonic  institution. 

The  idea  that  the  anti-masonic  party  was  formed  for  this 
purpose,  is  a  misconception  which  does  great  injustice  to  the 
many  able  and  respectable  men  who  were  members  of  it. 
The  fundamental  principle  of  the  anti-masonic  party  was  THE 
SUPREMACY  OF  THE  LAWS.  Facts  of  a  most  extraordinary 
nature,  which  had  forced  themselves  on  public  attention,  led 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  existence  of  masonry  was  incon 
sistent  with  the  regular  administration  of  justice.  This  conclu 
sion  was,  no  doubt,  founded  on  too  narrow  a  basis  of  facts.  It 
was  very  much  like  the  rejection  of  Christianity  by  a  resident 
of  a  Catholic  country,  who  judges  of  the  religion  by  the  only 
instances  of  which  he  has  any  knowledge,  namely,  those 
which  fall  under  his  own  observation.  The  fact  that  Wash 
ington,  and  indeed  most  of  the  distinguished  public  men  of 
the  country,  had  been  members  of  the  masonic  order,  ought 
to  have  been  regarded  as  a  proof  that  masonry,  as  they  under 
stood  it,  required  nothing  inconsistent  with  their  obligations  to 
their  country,  or  which  conflicted  with  the  unlimited  suprem 
acy  of  the  laws.  But  the  same  principle  of  human  nature 
which  causes  us  to  be  more  deeply  impressed  by  the  fall  of  a 
building  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  which  kills  half  a 
dozen  men,  than  we  should  be  by  hearing  that  an  earthquake 
in  China  had  engulphed  a  city  of  two  millions  of  inhabitants, 
will  invariably  color  men's  views  of  any  particular  institution 
2* 


34:  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 

in  accordance  with  the  specimens  with  which  they  are  most 
intimately  conversant. 

The  best  apology  for  the  anti-masons  is  to  be  found  in  the 
facts  in  which  the  party  had  its  origin.  A  simple  relation  of 
these  will  be  a  sufficient  justification  for  the  opposition  to  ma 
sonry  with  which  Mr.  Fillmore  was  identified,  on  his  first 
entrance  into  public  life.  Occurrences  which  so  powerfully 
aroused  public  indignation  as  to  create  a  political  party  that 
extended  over  a  great  part  of  the  country,  and  embraced  a 
full  proportion  of  able  and  experienced  men,  and  whose  nomi 
nation  for  the  presidency  was  accepted  by  a  man  of  the  char 
acter  and  eminence  of  William  Wirt  —  occurrences  which  led 
to  these  important  results,  could  hardly  have  done  otherwise 
than  make  a  deep  impression  on  a  young  man  of  twenty-six, 
residing  in  the  section  of  country  which  was  the  scene  of  the 
outrage.  Had  he  been  indifferent  amid  the  deep  excitement 
of  the  whole  community  around  him,  it  would  have  argued  a 
stoical  apathy  and  callousness  of  feeling,  not  only  discreditable 
to  the  heart  of  a  young  man,  but  implying,  in  a  person  of  any 
age,  a  lack  of  human  sympathy,  and  of  that  quick  resentment 
of  injustice  which  is  one  of  the  best  attributes  of  manhood. 

At  Batavia,  a  beautiful  village  in  Western  New  York,  which 
had  become  a  place  of  importance  when  Buffalo  was  a  mere 
cluster  of  rude  dwellings,  there  resided,  in  1826,  a  printer, 
named  William  Morgan.  His  business  was  not  thriving,  and 
being  a  royal  arch  mason,  he  hit  upon  the  expedient  of 
replenishing  his  pockets  by  divulging  the  secrets  of  his  order. 
A  rumor  soon  became  current  that  Morgan  was  preparing  a 
book  on  masonry,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  several  of  the 
masonic  lodges  of  Western  New  York.  On  the  llth  of  Sep 
tember,  the  master  of  a  masonic  lodge  at  Canandaigua,  a 
town  some  fifty  miles  distant,  procured  a  warrant  to  arrest 
Morgan  on  the  charge  of  stealing  a  shirt  and  cravat,  and,  with 
two  or  three  other  masons,  proceeded  to  Batavia,  where  they 


'  ABDUCTION   OF  MORGAN.  35 

caused  him  to  be  arrested,  hurried  him  into  a  carnage,  con 
veyed  him  to  Canandaigua,  and  brought  him  before  the  justice 
of  the  peace  who  had  issued  the  warrant.  He  was  imme 
diately  discharged,  there  being  no  evidence  that  he  was  guilty 
of  the  larceny  complained  of,  but  immediately  re-arrested  on 
a  small  debt,  which  had  been  assigned  to  the  same  master- 
mason  who  had  procured  the  first  warrant.  Judgment  was 
rendered  against  Morgan  for  two  dollars,  an  execution  instantly 
issued,  and  he  was  committed  to  close  confinement  in  the 
Canandaigua  jail.  Here  he  remained  but  a  few  hours.  He 
was  discharged  at  a  late  hour  of  the  same  evening,  and  imme 
diately  after  leaving  the  prison  doors,  he  was  seized,  gagged, 
and  put  into  a  covered  carnage,  which  was  driven  two  days 
without  interruption,  until,  on  the  evening  of  the  14th  of  Sep-' 
tember,  it  reached  the  Niagara  river.  This  was  accomplished 
by  relays  of  horses  and  the  agency  of  many  different  individ 
uals  ;  and  Morgan  was  confined  in  the  magazine  of  Fort  Niag 
ara,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  This  bold  and  unprecedented 
outrage  had  been  so  skillfully  planned,  and  was  executed  with 
so  much  address  and  caution,  that  it  was  for  a  long  time 
impossible  to  penetrate  the  secrecy  in  which  the  conspirators 
had  veiled  their  movements. 

The  rumor  which  had  been  for  some  time  current  in  Batavia 
of  Morgan's  intention  to  publish  a  book  revealing  the  secrets 
of  masonry,  seemed  to  afford  a  clue  to  the  motives  of  this  great 
outrage.  It  was  known  that  he  had  been  remonstrated  with 
by  his  brother  masons,  and  that  all  their  efforts  to  induce  him 
to  suppress  his  book  had  produced  no  impression  on  him.  A 
public  meeting  was  held,  and  a  committee  appointed,  who 
proceeded  to  Canandaigua  to  investigate  the  circumstances  of 
Morgan's  disappearance.  All  they  were  able  to  ascertain  was, 
that  Morgan  had  been  seized  immediately  on  his  release  from 
prison,  hurried  into  a  carriage,  and  driven  off  by  night,  in  the 
direction  of  Rochester.  When  the  result  of  this  investigation 


36  BIOGEAPJIY    OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 

became  known  it  created  intense  public  excitement.  A  great 
crime,  the-result  of  an  extensive  and  deep-laid  conspiracy,  bad 
been  committed.  A  citizen  bad  disappeared  under  circum 
stances  which  justified  the  suspicion  that  the  bands  which 
conveyed  him  away  bad  been  stained  with  bis  blood.  Public 
meetings  were  held  in  a  great  many  towns,  particularly  those 
through  which  the  circumstances  attending  the  conspiracy 
indicated  that  Morgan  had  been  carried,  and  committees  were 
appointed  to  investigate  the  facts.  These  meetings  had  no 
political  purpose,  nor  any  other  object  than  to  ferret  out  an 
unexampled  crime,  which  was  so  shrouded  in  mystery  that  it 
inflamed  curiosity  not  less  than  it  aroused  resentment.  They 
were  composed  indiscriminately  of  men  of  both  political  parties, 
and  no  motive  was  avowed  but  the  praiseworthy  one  of  inves 
tigating  a  crime  committed  against  the  liberty,  if  not  the  life, 
of  an  American  citizen.  Even  the  masons  were  appealed  to, 
to  assist  in  these  investigations,  and  told  that  if  they  wished  to 
wipe  out  a  blot  from  their  escutcheon,  and  protect  themselves 
from  suspicion,  they  should  lend  their  aid  in  vindicating  the 
violated  majesty  of  the  laws. 

These  committees  of  investigation  encountered  unexpected 
obstacles,  and  a  long  time  elapsed  before  they  were  able  to 
trace  the  course  of  the  conspirators  to  Fort  Niagara.  At  first, 
the  crime  was  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  a  few  misguided 
persons,  acting  without  the  sanction  of  the  fraternity  ;  although 
there  were  some,  who,  from  the  beginning,  held  the  whole 
order  responsible.  As  the  investigations  proceeded,  the  num 
ber  of  these  increased,  until  it  finally  embraced  a  large  portion 
of  the  community;  It  was  observed  that,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  no  mason  rendered  any  assistance  in  the  investiga 
tion.  It  was  discovered  that  every  person  implicated  in  the 
foul  transaction  was  a  mason.  Masons  attempted  to  cover  the 
whole  investigation  with  ridicule,  affected  to  disbelieve  that 
any  crime  had  been  committed,  and  some  even  went  so  far  as 


ABDUCTION  OF  MOEGAN.  37 

to  say,  that  if  Morgan  had  been  made  away  with,  the  trans 
action  was  perfectly  justifiable.  They  taunted  the  committees 
with  their  inability  to  accomplish  anything,  when  judges, 
jurors  and  sheriffs  were  masons;  witnesses  were  mysteriously 
spirited  away ;  the  committees  vilified  and  abused ;  and  in  the 
exasperation  which  followed,  the  conviction  became  general 
among  those  who  were  not  masons,  that  the  institution  was 
responsible  for  the  crime  which  thus  eluded  public  justice. 

The  precise  fate  of  Morgan,  after  his  confinement  in  Fort 
Niagara,  never  became  known.  But  at  this  day  there  remains 
no  doubt  that  he  was  murdered  in  cold  blood,  by  members 
of  the  masonic  fraternity,  to  prevent  the  disclosure  of  their 
secrets.  It  is  not  probable  that,  at  the  beginning,  they  con 
templated  the  commission  of  so  foul  a  crime;  but  when  they 
had  once  abducted  their  victim,  they  knew  no  other  way  to 
dispose  of  him.  A  second  crime  became  necessary  for  the 
purpose  of  concealing  the  first. 

The  publication  of  Morgan's  book,  which  was  not  prevented 
by  his  abduction,  made  known  the  obligations  taken  by  masons 
in  joining  the  order.  Considering  the  circumstances  under 
whfch  they  were  brought  to  light,  it  is  no  wonder  that  these 
oaths  received  a  literal  interpretation.  They  were  probably 
regarded  by  most  of  those  who  took  them,  as  a  mere  form, 
without  meaning,  for  it  was  established  by  the  testimony, 
both  of  adhering  and  seceding  masons,  that  in  one  of  them 
(called  the  royal  arch)  the  candidate  swears  that  he  will  assist 
a  brother  mason  in  distress,  and  espouse  his  cause,  so  far  as  to 
extricate  him  from  the  same,  if  in  his  power,  whether  he  le  right 
or  wrong;  that  he  will  conceal  the  secrets  of  a  brother,  given 
him  in  charge  as  such,  murder  and  treason  not  excepted;  and  in 
other  oaths  the  candidate  binds  himself  to  avenge  the  violated 
secrets  of  the  lodge,  by  the  infliction  of  death  on  the  offender, 
and  to  revenge  the  wrongs  of  a  brother  to  the  utmost 
extremity. 


38  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

These  oaths  being  made  public  immediately  after  the  com 
mission  of  a  great  crime,  by  the  agency  of  masons,  and  in  the 
face  of  their  attempt  to  screen  the  perpetrators  from  justice, 
nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  the  community  in  which 
it  had  been  committed  should  suppose  that  the  oaths  were 
not  mere  unmeaning  forms,  but  obligations  assumed  -in  good 
faith,  and  to  be  strictly  interpreted.  "  If  this  be  masonry," 
said  an  outraged  community,  "  it  is  the  duty  of  good  men  to 
unite  and  put  it  down."  Had  the  masons  of  Western  New 
York  co-operated  in  the  efforts  to  bring  the  conspirators  to 
justice,  the  nature  of  their  institution  would  not  have  been 
so  misconceived. 

When,  in  January,  1827,  Lawson  and  others  were  brought 
to  trial,  the  public  expected  developments  which  would  clear 
up  the  mystery.  But,  by  a  piece  of  adroit  management,  the 
facts  which  the  public  curiosity  so  eagerly  craved,  were  still 
kept  shrouded  from  view.  Contrary  to  expectation,  the  "de 
fendants  pleaded  guilty,  and  thus  excluded  all  testimony. 
The  community  was  raised  to  a  still  higher  pitch  of  excite 
ment.  Judge  Throop,  in  sentencing  the  prisoners,  addressed 
them  in  the  following  language.  "  Your  conduct  has  created, 
in  the  people  of  this  section  of  the  country,  a  strong  feeling 
of  virtuous  indignation.  The  court  rejoices  to  witness  it — to 
be  made  certain  that  a  citizen's  person  can  not  be  invaded  by 
lawless  violence,  without  its  being  felt  by  every  individual  in 
the  community.  It  is  a  blessed  spirit,  and  we  do  hope  that  it 
will  not  subside;  that  it  will  be  accompanied  by  a  ceaseless 
vigilance  and  untiring  activity,  until  every  actor  in  this  profli 
gate  conspiracy  is  hunted  from  his  hiding-place,  and  brought 
before  the  tribunals  of  his  country,  to  receive  the  punishment 
merited  by  his  crime.  We  think  we  see  in  this  public  sensa 
tion,  the  spirit  which  brought  us  into  existence  as  a  nation, 
and  a  pledge  that  our  rights  and  liberties  are  destined  to 
endure." 


ABOLITION   OF   IMPRISONMENT   FOR   DEBT.  o(J 

Up  to  this  time,  the  excitement  had  not  taken  a  political 
turn.  Baffled  in  their  attempts  to  ascertain  the  facts,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  community  indulged  in  dark  suspicions,  nor 
that  horrible  rumors  got  afloat,  and  were  received  with  im 
plicit  credence.  The  public  mind  was  lashed  into  a  state 
bordering  on  fury.  Under  any  other  government  than  ours, 
there  would  have  been  serious  outbreaks,  ending  in  violence 
and  bloodshed.  But,  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  our 
institutions,  a  political  direction  was  given  to  the  excitement, 
and  it  was  aimed  to  bring  the  elective  franchise  to  aid  the 
tribunals  of  justice,  which  were  set  at  defiance. 

From  this  account  of  the  origin  of  anti-masonry,  it  will  be 
seen  that  it  was  not,  as  is  generally  supposed,  founded  on  a 
blind  and  indiscriminate  opposition  to  secret  societies,  but 
aimed  at  the  less  frivolous,  and  entirely  commendable  object 
of  sustaining  the  supremacy  of  the  laws.  That  it  mistook  the 
character  of  the  institution  it  opposed,  was  an  unavoidable 
consequence  of  the  extraordinary  facts  by  which  a  previously 
indifferent  community  were  startled -into  an  active,  but  con 
stantly  baffled  attempt  to  investigate  the  subject.  In  personal 
character  and  influence,  the  anti-masonic  party  was  one  of  the 
most  respectable  that  has  ever  appeared  in  our  politics. 

During  the  three  years  that  Mr.  Fillmore  was  a  member  of 
the  New  York  Legislature,  it  was  a  body  of  great  ability,  em 
bracing  some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  that  have  ever 
figured  in  New  York  politics.  As  the  Democratic  party  was 
largely  in  the  majority,  and  under  the  discipline  of  experienced 
leaders,  a  young  member  of  the  opposition,  naturally  modest 
and  unassuming,  had  little  opportunity  to  distinguish  himself. 

Mr.  Fillmore,  however,  made  a  favorable  impression  from 
the  very  first ;  and  in  all  measures  not  of  a  party  character, 
liis  opinion  soon  came  to  be  regarded  as  of  great  weight.  He 
made  no  attempts  to  show  off  his  abilities ;  he  never  spoke  for 
display ;  but  the  clearness  with  which  his  views  were  formed, 


4:0  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

the  modest  brevity  with  which  he  explained  them,  the  candor, 
discretion  and  good  sense  which  he  uniformly  evinced,  gained 
for  him  a  strong  hold  on  the  confidence  of  his  associates.  One 
of  the  measures  in  which  he  felt  great  interest  was  the  aboli 
tion  of  imprisonment  for  debt.  The  bill,  as  it  stands  on  the 
statute  book,  was  drafted  by  him  and  the  late  Hon.  John  C. 
Spencer,  and  to  their  zealous  advocacy  it  was  principally  in 
debted  for  success.  The  impression  which  Mr.  Fillmore  —  a 
young  man  without  experience,  and  barely  twenty-nine  years 
of  age  —  made  during  the  first  session  he  served  in  the  Legis 
lature,  may  be  judged  of  by  the  manner  his  return  to  that 
body  the  next  year  is  mentioned  by  Judge  Hammond.  He 
says:  " The  anti-masonic  party  had  not  increased  their  num 
bers  in  the  Assembly,  but  they  had  greatly  added  to  the 
talents  of  that  branch  of  the  Legislature.  Mr.  Granger,  Mr. 
Fillmore,  Mr.  Nicholas,  and  Mr.  P.  C.  Fuller  were  again  re 
turned.  To  these  strong  and  powerful  representatives  in  the 
Assembly,  they  this  year  added  Thurlow  Weed,  of  Monroe, 
and  Abner  Hazeltine,  of.Chautauque  county."*  Speaking  in 
another  place  of  the  anti-masonic  members  of  the  Legislature, 
he  mentions  the  names  of  several,  including  Mr.  Fillmore,  and 
says,  they  "  were  all  men  whose  talents  would  have  done 
credit  to  any  deliberative  body ;  and  the  address  and  eloquence 
of  some  of  them  would  have  added  luster  to  any  legislative 
assembly  in  the  world," 

It  can  not  but  be  regarded  as  creditable  to  the  talents  of  an 
inexperienced  young  man  from  the  new  settlements  of  West 
ern  New  York,  that,  notwithstanding  the  native  modesty  of 
his  character,  he  immediately  took  rank  with  the  ablest  mem 
bers  of  the  body.  -Lest  it  should  be  thought  that  these  views 
of  his  early  public  career  are  colored  by  a  knowledge  of  his 
subsequent  success,  we  insert  the  following  description  written 

*  Political  History  of  New  York. 


A   LEGISLATIVE    POKTEAIT.  41 

at  the  time.  It  is  one  of  a  series  of  "  Legislative  Portraits," 
which  appeared  in  the  Albany  Evening  Journal,  during  the 
session  of  1830.  They  were  written  by  an  experienced  ob 
server,  and  included  only  prominent  members  of  the  Legis 
lature: 

"  No.  VI. — MILLARD  FILLMORE,  of  Erie  county,  is  of  the 
middle  stature — five  feet  nine  inches  in  height.  He  appears  to 
be  about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  but  it  is  said  he  is  not  more 
than  thirty,  of  light  complexion,  regular  features,  and  of  a 
mild  and  benign  countenance. 

"  His  ancestors  were  among  the  hardy  sons  of  the  North, 
and,  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  were  WHIGS,  inhabiting 
the  Green  Mountains  of  Vermont.  Mr.  Fillmore,  from  the 
commencement  of  his  political  career,  has  been  a  republican. 
He  is,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term,  a  self-made  man. 
He  was  educated  and  reared  in  the  western  district  of  our 
State.  At  an  early  period  of  life  he  went  to  the  fulling  busi 
ness;  but  naturally  of  an  inquiring  mind,  and  anxious  to  in 
crease  his  limited  stock  of  knowledge,  his  leisure  hours  were 
occupied  in  reading.  When  about  twenty  years  of  age,  he 
retired  from  his  former  pursuits,  and  after  having  studied  the 
law  as  a  profession,  he  was  licensed  to  practice.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  last  Legislature. 

"  Although  the  age  of  Mr.  Fillmore  does  not  exceed  thirty 
years,  he  has  all  the  prudence,  discretion,  and  judgment  of  an 
experienced  man.  He  is  modest,  retiring,  and  unassuming. 
He  appears  to  be  perfectly  insensible  of  the  rare  and  happy 
qualities  of  mind  for  which  he  is  so  distinguished.  He  ex 
hibits,  on  every  occasion,  when  called  into  action,  a  mildness 
and  benignity  of  temper,  mingled  with  a  firmness  of  purpose, 
that  is  seldom  concentrated  in  the  same  individual.  His  in 
tercourse  with  the  bustling  world  is  very  limited.  His  books, 
and  occasionally  the  rational  conversation  of  intelligent  friends, 
seem  to  constitute  his  happiness.  He  is  never  to  be  found  in 


42  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAED   FILLMOKE. 

the  giddy  mazes  of  fashionable  life.  And  yet  there  is  in  his 
manner  an  indescribable  something  which  creates  a  strong  im 
pression  in  his  favor,  and  which  seems  to  characterize  him  as 
a  well  bred  gentleman. 

"He  possesses  a  logical  mind;  and  there  is  not  a  member 
of  the  house  who  presents  his  views,  on  any  subject  that  he 
attempts  to  discuss,  in  a  more  precise  and  luminous  manner. 
He  seldom  speaks  unless  there  appears  to  be  an  absolute  ne 
cessity  for  the  arguments  or  explanations  which  he  offers. 
Nor  does  he  ever  rise  without  attracting  the  attention  of  all 
who  are  within  the  sound  of  his  voice  —  a  tribute  of  respect 
paid  to  his  youthful  modesty  and  great  good  sense. 

"As  a  legislator,  Mr.  Fillmore  appears  to  act  with  perfect 
fairness  and  impartiality.  He  examines  every  subject  dis 
tinctly,  for  himself,  and  decides  on  its  merits  according  to  the 
best  lights  of  his  own  judgment  or  understanding.  He  is  now 
at  an  age  when  his  character  is  to  be  irrevocably  fixed.  As  a 
politician,  he  is  not  formed  to  be  great.  He  has  none  of  the 
qualities  requisite  for  a  political  chieftain.  He  wants  that  self- 
confidence  and  assurance  (if  the  term  may  be  allowed,)  with 
out  which  a  partisan  leader  can  never  hope  for  followers.  Mr. 
Fillmore's  love  of  books  and  habits  of  thinking,  will,  ulti 
mately,  conduct  him  to  a  more  tranquil,  but  higher  destiny,  if 
the  one  is  not  broken  upon,  and  the  other  diverted  from  its 
natural  course,  to  the  too  often  polluted,  and  always  turbulent, 
if  not  mortifying  conflicts  of  faction.  If  he  has  not  sufficient 
moral  firmness  to  resist  the  allurements  which  legislation  pre 
sents  to  the  young  and  ambitious,  then  ought  his  friends  to 
act  for  him,  and  refuse  him  a  re-nomination.  It  is  a  life  which 
not  only  casts  to  the  winds  of  heaven  all  employment  as  a, 
professional  man,  but  it  uproots,  sooner  or  later,  the  germs  of 
industry,  and  the  delights  of  study.  These  are  the  admoni 
tions  of  age  and  experience. 

"As  a  debater,  Mr.  Fillmore  occupies  a  very  elevated  stand 


MR.  FILLMORE'S  MODESTY.  43 

i 

in  the  house.  His  manner  is  good;  his  voice  agreeable.  To 
ward  his  opponents  he  never  fails  to  evince  a  most  studied 
delicacy.  He  is  mild  and  persuasive,  sometimes  animated. 
His  speeches  are  pithy  and  sententious;  always  free  from  idle 
and  vapid  declamation.  His  arguments  are  logically  arranged, 
and  presented  to  the  house  without  embarrassment  or  con 
fusion." 

The  advice  which  this  writer  tendered  to  Mr.  Fillmore,  to 
retire  from  public  life,  was  doubtless  meant  for  his  private 
advantage,  rather  than  that  of  the  country.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  soundness  of  the  general  principle,  that  when  a 
young  lawyer  allows  himself  to  be  allured  into  politics,  he 
sacrifices  his  prospects  of  professional  eminence.  But  in  Mr. 
Fillmore's  case,  the  very  love  of  study  which  is  assigned  as  a 
reason  for  retirement,  has  ensured  a  hearty  devotion  to  quiet 
pursuits  whenever  he  has  been  released  from  the  calls  of  pub 
lic  duty.  The  lack  of  the  self-confidence  and  assurance  deemed 
essential  to  a  great  party  leader,  has  not  interfered,  as  was 
predicted,  with  Mr.  Fillmore's  political  success,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  has  inspired  additional  public  confidence,  from  the 
conviction  that  he  is  not  governed  by  self-seeking  ambition. 
May  the  day  be  far  distant  when  the  American  people  shall 
prefer  bold  assurance  to  modest  merit!  Washington  possessed 
as  little  of  the  self-confident  and  assuming  qualities  which  are 
considered  essential  in  party  leaders,  as  did  Mr.  Fillmore ;  but 
in  both  cases  the  American  people  have  had  the  good  sense 
to  recognize  their  merits. 


44:  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 


CHAPTER  III. 

MR.  FILLMORE'S  CAREER  IN  CONGRESS. 

Mr.  Fillmore's  term  of  service  in  the  New  York  Legislature 
expired  in  1831.  In  the  fall  of  1832  he  was  elected  by  his 
district  as  its  representative  in  Congress.  During  the  first 
sessions  in  which  he  served,  the  national  bank  was  the  en 
grossing  political  topic.  General  Jackson's  celebrated  veto  and 
his  removal  of  the  deposits  had  created  great  public  excitement; 
but  Mr.  Fillmore  did  not,  as  will  afterwards  appear,  attach 
that  extreme  importance  to  a  national  bank  which  was  attrib 
uted  to  it  by  his  party.  He  would  not,  therefore,  have  made 
a  figure  in  the  stirring  debates  of  the  period,  even  if  he  had 
been  less  inexperienced  and  unassuming.  More  anxious  to 
discharge  his  duty  faithfully  than  to  make  a  display  of  his 
abilities,  he  served  in  the  twenty-third  Congress,  with  credit, 
indeed,  but  without  any  very  marked  distinction.  At  the 
close  of  his  term,  he  devoted  himself,  with  the  assiduity  which 
forms  a  part  of  his  character,  to  the  labors  of  his  profession,  in 
which  he  had  risen  to  a  high  rank  and  enjoyed  a  lucrative 
practice.  His  fellow  citizens,  however,  had  too  just  an  appre 
ciation  of  his  capacity  for  public  usefulness  to  allow  him  to 
remain  long  in  retirement,  and  they  elected  him  to  the  twenty- 
fifth,  the  twenty-sixth,  and  the  twenty-seventh  Congress,  hon 
oring  him  at  the  last  election  with  the  largest  majority  ever 
given  in  his  district.  His  congressional  career  was  terminated 
by  a  letter  to  his  constituents  declining  to  serve  them  longer 
in  that  capacity. 


CONGRESSIONAL  LABORS.  45 

Up  to  the  time  of  his  last  re-election,  the  party  with  which 
Mr.  .Fillraore  acted  was  in  a  minority  in  the  national  councils, 
and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  he  was  not  assigned  any 
position  in  the  organization  of  the  House  corresponding  to  his 
eminent  capacity.  But  when,  after  the  great  political  revolu 
tion  of  1840,  by  which  the  Whig  party  came  into  power,  a 
Congress  met  to  devise  remedies  for  the  financial  distresses 
which  had  overthrown  the  preceding  administration,  Mr.  Fill- 
more  at  once  rose  to  his  proper  level,  as  a  man  fitted  for 
responsible  leadership  in  great  and  trying  emergencies.  The 
committee  of  ways  and  means,  always  the  most  important  in 
the  House,  became  invested  with  unusual  consequence  at  a 
period  when  the  chief  duty  of  Congress  was  to  introduce  a 
new  revenue  system  which  should  relieve  the  country  from 
the  embarrassments  under  which  it  was  suffering.  That  Mr. 
Fillmore  was  immediately  made  chairman  of  that  committee, 
on  the  accession  of  his  party  to  power,  not  only  proves  their 
sense  of  his  capacity,  but  shows  that  during  preceding  sessions, 
when  acting  with  a  minority,  he  must  have  discharged  his 
duties  with  singular  ability  and  judgment.  Confidence  so 
complete  could  not  have  been  lightly  or  hastily  won. 

Before  describing  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Fillmore  ac 
quitted  himself  in  this  responsible  position,  it  may  be  expected 
that  we  should  give  some  account  of  his  previous  congressional 
labors.  An  examination  of  the  proceedings  of  Congress  shows 
an  active  participation,  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  in  the 
business  of  the  House.  He  laboriously  investigated  all  the 
subjects  which  came  before  it,  and  frequently  bore  a  part  in 
its  debates.  When  he  spoke,  however,  it  was  not  to  win 
the  applause  of  the  galleries,  but  to  advance  the  business  of 
the  House.  Confining  himself  to  the  matter  in  hand,  he  was 
always  clear  and  forcible,  but  never  aimed  at  a  reputation  for 
any  other  species  of  eloquence  than  that  which  consists  in 
speaking  to  the  point,  and  producing  conviction.  The  interests 


46  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAED   FILLMOEE. 

of  his  immediate  constituents  were  very  thoroughly  attended 
to  and  ably  advocated,  and,  from  their  importance,  demanded 
a  large  amount  of  attention.  On  account  of  the  local  position 
of  Buffalo,  that  city  has  a  great  stake  in  all  that  affects  the 
safe  navigation  of  the  great  lakes  and  western  waters  —  a  large 
commercial  interest  centering  there  which  requires  the  protec 
tion  of  the  national  government.  As  was  to  have  been  ex 
pected,  Mr.  Fillmore  gave  his  earnest  and  persevering  support 
to  the  internal  improvement  policy  then  advocated  by  the  Whig 
party.  Of  the  other  leading  measures  of  that  party,  one  had 
been  temporarily  settled  by  Mr.  Clay's  compromise  tariff  of 
1833.  On  the  other  —  the  United  States  Bank  — Mr.  Fill- 
more  did  not  fully  sympathize  with  the  views  of  his  party,  and 
the  public  opinion  of  the  country  has  since  settled  into  the 
conviction  that  such  an  institution  is  not  demanded  by  the 
public  welfare.  On  the  25th  of  September,  1837,  Mr.  Fillmore 
delivered  a  speech  against  the  bill  to  postpone  the  fourth  in 
stalment  under  the  deposit  act  of  1836.  The  purport  of  the 
speech  having  been  erroneously  reported  in  the  Globe,  he 
addressed  to  the  publishers  the  following  note: 

"  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  ") 
September  27th,  1837.       / 

"  GENTLEMEN  :  My  attention  has  been  this  moment  drawn  to 
a  remark  in  the  Globe  of  last  evening,  purporting  to  give  the 
proceedings  of  the  House  on  Monday  evening,  in  which  I  find 
the  following  statement: 

"'Mr.  Fillmore  resumed  and  continued  his  remarks  on  the 
subject,  with  the  addition  of  a  lengthy  argument  in  favor  of  a 
Bank  of  the  United  States.' " 

"  Passing  over  some  evident  misapprehensions  of  your  re 
porter  as  to  the  purport  of  my  remarks  generally,  I  wish  to 
say  that  he  is  entirely  and  most  singularly  mistaken  in  saying 
that  I  made  a  lengthy  argument  in  favor  of  a  United  States 
Bank.  I  made  no  argument  in  favor  of  the  United  States 
Bank,  nor  of  a  United  States  Bank;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
expressly  disclaimed  ever  having  been  the  particular  friend  of 


UNITED   STATES   BANK.  47 

the  United  States  Bank,-  and  expressed  my  sincere  doubts 
whether  the  incorporation  of  a  new  United  States  Bank,  at 
this  time,  would  relieve  the  present  embarrassments  of  the 
community.  Will  you  do  me  the  justice  to  correct  the  mis 
take  ?  Respectfully  yours, 

"MlLLARD    FiLLMORE. 

"  Messrs.  BLAIR  and  RIVES." 

We  have  made  this  quotation  to  show  that  Mr.  Fillmore's 
views  were  in  advance  of  those  of  his  party  on  a  question 
respecting  which  there  has  now  ceased  to  be  any  difference 
of  opinion. 

A  subject  which  gave  rise  to  much  warm  discussion  in  the 
twenty-fifth  Congress,  and  created  great  excitement  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  was  the  refusal  to  receive  the  abolition 
petitions  which  were  poured  in  great  numbers  into  both  Houses. 
Mr.  Fillmore,  like  Mr.  Clay,  was  in  favor  of  the  reception  of 
such  petitions   and   having   them  referred  to  an  appropriate 
committee    and   reported    on.     Mr.  Fillmore    supported    this 
policy  only   by   his   votes,  but  Mr.  Clay  spoke  warmly  and 
strongly  in  its  favor,  urging  reasons  of  great  weight  and  force. 
To  say  nothing  of  its  injustice,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
refusal  to  receive  such  petitions  was  an  insane  and  short-sighted 
policy,  and  one  of  the  chief  agencies  in  fanning  the  flame  of 
sectional  excitement  and  confirming  sectional  prejudices.    While 
very  few  in  any  part  of  the  country  were  in  favor  of  abolishing 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  large  masses  of  the  people 
regarded  the  right  of  petition  as  sacred  and  inestimable,  and 
the  abolitionists   found    themselves  reinforced  by  multitudes 
who  disapproved  of  their  leading  purpose,  but  were  willing  to 
unite  with  them  in  the  assertion  of  what  they  regarded  as  an 
inviolable  right.     Had  the  petitions  been  referred,  no  commit 
tee  would  have  reported  in  favor  of  granting  their  prayer,  and 
the  only  consequence  would  have  been  a  more  public  state 
ment  of  the  reasons  why  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District 


48  BIOGRAPHY    OF    HILLARD    FILLMOEE. 

of  Colurabia  was  both  inexpedient  in  itself,  and  inconsistent 
with  implied  obligations  to  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
Mr.  Clay's  views  (in  which  Mr.  Fillmore  sympathized)  as  to 
the  proper  manner  of  treating  such  petitions,  are  sufficiently 
indicated  in  the  following  extract  from  the  proceedings  of  the 
Senate.  A  petition  had  been  presented,  signed  by  a  large 
number  of  ladies  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  praying  for  the 
immediate  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  A 
motion  was  made  to  lay  the  petition  on  the  table : 

"Mn.  HUBBARD  moved  to  lay  that  motion  on  the  table. 

"  MR.  MORRIS  asked  for  the  yeas  and  nays. 

"  MR.  CLAY  wished  the  motion  withdrawn  for  a  moment. 
It  was  manifest  that  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  was  extending  itself  in  the  public  mind,  and  daily 
engaging  more  and  more  of  the  public  attention.  His  opin 
ions,  as  expressed  in  the  Legislature  of  the  country,  were,  he 
believed,  perfectly  well  known.  He  had  no  hesitation  in  say 
ing  that  Congress  ought  not  to  do  what  was  asked  by  the 
petitioners  without  the  consent  of  the  people  of  the  District 
of  Columbia.  He  was  desirous  of  inquiring  of  the  Senator 
from  New  Jersey,  or  any  other  conversant  with  the  subject, 
whether  the  feeling  of  abolition  in  the  abstract  was  extending 
itself  in  their  respective  States,  or  whether  it  was  not  be 
coming  mixed  up  with  other  matters  —  such,  for  instance,  iti 
the  belief  that  the  sacred  right  of  petition  had  been  assailed. 
It  became  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  inquire  into  this  business, 
and  understand  the  subject  well. 

"  There  were  many,  no  doubt,  of  these  petitioners,  who  did 
not  mean  to  assert  that  slavery  should  be  abolished,  that  were 
contending  for  what  they  understood  to  be  a  great  constitu 
tional  right.  Would  it  not,  then,  under  this  view  of  the  sub 
ject,  be  the  best  course  to  allay  excitement,  and  endeavor  to 
calm  down  and  tranquilize  the  public  mind  ?  Would  it  not  be 
wiser  to  refer  the  subject  to  the  Committee  for  the  District 
of  Columbia,  or  some  other  committee,  that  would  elicit  nil 
the  facts,  reason  coolly  and  dispassionately,  presenting  the 
subject  in  all  its  bearings  to  the  citizens  of  non-slaveholding 
States,  and  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  great  subject?  Would 


ABOLITION    PETITIONS.  49 

not  such  a  proceeding  be  well  calculated  to  insure  harmony 
and  amity  in  all  parts  of  the  Union?  On  this  subject  there 
was,  he  was  aware,  a  great  diversity  of  opinion,  and  he  rose 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  making  these  suggestions  to  the 
Senate." 

Mr.  Fillmore's  supporting  the  right  of  petition  merely  by 
his  vote,  did  not  satisfy  the  abolitionists  of  his  district,  and  left 
them  in  doubt  as  to  the  precise  character  of  his  views.  When, 
therefore,  in  1838,  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election,  they  ad 
dressed  him  a  letter  of  inquiry,  to  which  he  made  the  follow 
ing  reply : 

"BUFFALO,  October  17th,  1838. 

"Sin: — Your  communication  of  the  15th  inst.,  as  chairman 
of  a  committee  appointed  by  'The  Anti- Slavery  Society  of 
the  Count;/  of  Erie]  has  just  come  to  hand.  You  solioit  my 
answer  to  the  following  interrogatories: 

"'1st.  Do  you  believe  that  petitions  to  Congress  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade,  ought  to  be  received, 
read,  and  respectfully  considered  by  the  representatives  of  the 
people  ? ' 

"'  2d.  Are'  you  opposed  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  this 
Union  under  any  circumstances,  so  long  as  slaves  are  held 
therein?' 

"  '  3d.  Are  you  in  favor  of  Congress  exercising  all  the  con 
stitutional  power  it  possesses,  to  abolish  the  internal  slave  trade 
between  the  States?' 

" '  Are  you  in  favor  of  immediate  legislation  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia?' 

"1  am  much  engaged,  and  have  no  time  to  enter  into  an 
argument  or  to  explain  at  length  my  reasons  for  my  opinion. 
I  shall,  therefore,  content  myself  for  the  present,  by  answering 
all  your  interrogatories  in  the  affirmative,  and  leave  for  some 
future  occasion  a  more  extended  discussion  of  the  subject.  I 
would,  however,  take  this  occasion  to  say,  that  in  thus  frankly 
giving  my  opinion,  I  would  not  desire  to  have  it  understood  in 
the  nature  of  a  pledge.  At  the  same  time  that  I  seek  no  dis 
guises,  but  freely  give  my  sentiments  on  any  subject  of  in 
terest  to  those  for  whose  suffrages  I  am  a  candidate,  I  am 
3 


50  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLAKD    FILLMOKE. 

opposed  to  giving  any  pledges  that  shall  deprive  me  hereafter 
of  all  discretionary  power.  My  own  character  must  be  the 
guaranty  for  the  general  correctness  of  my  legislative  deport 
ment.  On  every  important  subject  I  am  bound  to  deliberate 
before  I  act,  and  especially  as  a  legislator,  to  possess  myself 
of  all  the  i information,  and  listen  to  every  argument  that  can 
be  adduced  by  my  associates,  before  I  give  a  final  vote.  If  I 
stand  pledged  to  a  particular  course  of  action,  1  cease  to  be  a 
responsible  agent,  but  L  become  a  mere  machine.  Should 
subsequent  events  show  beyond  all  doubt  that  the  course  I 
had  become  pledged  to  pursue  was  ruinous  to  my  constituents 
and  disgraceful  to  myself,  I  have  no  alternative,  no  opportunity 
for  repentance,  and  there  is  no  power  to  absolve  me  from  my 
obligation.  Hence  the  impropriety,  not  to  say  absurdity,  in 
my  viewrs,  of  giving  a  pledge. 

"  I  am  aware  that  you  have  not  asked  any  pledge,  and  I 
believe  I  know  your  sound  judgment  and  good  sense  too  well 
to  think  you  desire  any  such  thing.  It  was,  however,  to  pre 
vent  any  misrepresentation  on  the  part  of  others,  that  I  have 
felt  it  my  duty  to  say  thus  much  on  this  subject. 
"  1  am,  respectfully, 

"  Your  most  ob't  servant, 

"  MlLLARD    FlLLMORE. 

"W.  MILLS,  Esq.,  Chairman,  &c." 

This  manly  refusal  to  bind  himself  by  any  pledges,  as  to  his 
future  course  as  a  legislator,  does  honor  to  the  independence 
of  his  character.  Mr.  Fillmore  was  in  favor  of  the  right  of 
petition,  and  all  his  natural  sympathies  were  opposed  to  hu 
man  slavery;  but  he  was  aware  that  the  relations  of  the 
national  government  to  that  institution  are  not  to  be  deter 
mined  by  the  sympathies  of  the  human  heart.  His  letter 
implies  that  the  subject  demanded  inquiry,  thought,  and 
deliberation;  and  he  firmly  asserts  his  right,  when  c;:lled  to 
investigate  it  in  a  legislative  capacity,  to  be  governed  by  such 
views  as  mature  investigation  should  lead  him  to  adopt. 

Another  subject  which  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
twenty-fifth  Congress,  deserves  mention  for  the  leading  part 


THE    STEAMER   CAROLINE.  51 

which  Mr.  Fillraore  took  in  the*  proceedings,  and  the  illustra 
tion  they  afford  of  his  prompt  and  ardent  patriotism. 

•In  1837,  during  the  insurrection  in  Canada,  known  as  "the 
Patriot  War,"  a  steamer  called  the  Caroline,  and  owned  by  a 
Mr.  Wells,  of  Buffalo,  was  employed  on  the  Niagara  river  in 
the  transportation  of  freight  and  passengers.  On  the  morning 
of  the  29th  of  December,  the  Caroline  left  Buffalo,  and  pro 
ceeded  down  the  river,  running  near  the  shore  on  the  Ameri 
can  side,  within  the  territorial  limits  of  the  United  States. 
She  touched  at  Black  Rock,  and  ran  up  the  American  flag, 
but  had  hardly  left  the  harbor  of  that  village  when  a  volley 
of  musketry  was  discharged  at  her  from  the  Canada  shore. 
No  injury  was  done,  however,  and  the  Caroline  continued  her 
course  down  the  river,  without  further  molestation.  On 
reaching  Navy  Island,  she  landed  her  passengers  and  freight, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon  made  two  or  three  trips 
between  Navy  Island  and  Schlosser,  on  the  American  side. 
At  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  she  was  made  fast  with  chains 
to  the  dock  at  Schlosser,  and  besides  the  crew,  consisting  of 
ten  men,  twenty-three  other  persons,  who  were  unable  to  pro 
cure  lodgings  at  the  tavern,  took  up  their  quarters  on  board 
for  the  night.  They  had  all  retired  to  rest  except  those  who 
were  stationed  to  watch,  when,  about  midnight,  the  captain 
was  informed  that  several  boats  filled  with  men  were  making 
their  way  through  the.  darkness,  and  approaching  the  Caro 
line.  An  alarm  was  given,  but  before  the  sleepers  could  reach 
the  deck,  the  steamer  was  boarded  by  seventy  or  eighty  armed 
men.  With  oaths  and  imprecations  they  commenced  an  at 
tack  upon  the  defenseless  crew,  who,  being  unarmed,  could 
offer  no  resistance,  and  fled  to  escape  slaughter.  One  man 
was  shot  through  the  head,  two  were  severely,  and  several 
slightly  wounded ;  the  steamer  was  cut  loose  from  her  dock, 
sot  on  fire,  towed  into  the  current  of  the  river,  sent  blazing 
into  the  rapids,  and  extinguished  by  the  fearful  plunge  over 


52  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAED    FILLMOKE. 

the  mighty  cataract.  Beacon  lights  then  appeared  on  the 
Canada  shore;  and  when  the  boats,  still  under  the  cover  of 
the  night,  returned  from  their  dreadful  errand,  the  loud  and 
vociferous  cheers  with  which  they  were  greeted,  came  rolling 
throuffh  the  darkness  to  the  American  shore.  The  next 

& 

morning  the  captain  of  the  Caroline  found  that  twelve  of  the 
thirty-three  men  who  went  on  board  the  preceding  evening- 
were  missing.  It  was  believed  that,  disabled  by  their  wrounds, 
they  remained  on  the  Caroline,  and  had  been  committed  to  a 
fate  which  fills  the  imagination  with  horror. 

It  afterward  appeared  that  this  expedition  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  Caroline  had  been  fitted  out  by  Col.  Allen  McNab, 
then  in  command  of  twenty-five  hundred  British  troops  at 
Chippewa,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  Two  or  three 
years  later,  the  responsibility  of  the  affair  was  assumed  by  the 
British  government. 

As  this  act  was  an  invasion  of  our  territory,  and  an  affront 
to  our  sovereignty,  Mr.  Fillmore  felt,  as  every  patriot  ought 
to  feel,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  government  to  make  a 
prompt  demand  for  satisfaction.  Although  the  subject  be 
longed  to  the  executive  department,  he  thought  it  the  duty 
of  Congress  to  express  its  sense  of  the  outrage,  and  accord 
ingly  proposed  and  pressed  repeated  resolutions,  calling  on  the 
President  to  lay  before  the  House  such  correspondence  on  the 
subject  as  had  passed  between  the  two  governments.  In 
order  to  insure  greater  promptitude,  he  made  his  proposition 
as  an  amendment  to  another  resolution,  which  had  come  up 
for  consideration  in  its  order.  Opposition  being  made, 

"  Mr.  FILLMORE  said  he  could  not  conceive  how  his  propo 
sition  could  possibly  tend  to  embarrass  the  action  of  the  House 
upon  the  resolution  offered  by  the  committee  on  foreign 
affairs.  It  was  certainly  very  easy  for  the  President  to  dis 
tinguish  between  the  different  kinds  of  information  sought  for 
by  the  different  propositions.  He  iiad  tried  every  other  way 


EXCITEMENT    ON   THE   FRONTIER.  53 

to  bring  his  proposition  before  the  House,  and  could  not  pre 
sent  it  in  any  form  which  would  secure  its  immediate  consider 
ation,  excepting  that  in  which  it  now  stood.  For  if  it  were 
offered  as  an  independent  resolution,  it  would  take  its  place 
behind  all  others  now  on  the  Speaker's  table.  Its  great  im 
portance  would  not  permit  him  to  expose  it  to  such  a  risk, 
and  he  had,  therefore,  offered  it  in  the  form  of  an  amendment 
to  the  original  resolution  of  the  committee  on  foreign  affairs, 
in  which  shape  he  hoped  it  would  pass. 

"As  to  the  expression  which  he  had  used  in  relation  to  the 
disturbances  of  the  Niagara  frontier,  that  this  country  was  on 
the  eve  of  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  perhaps  it  was  too  strong 
an  expression.  But  certainly  all  the  facts  demonstrated  that 
there  was  imminent  danger  of  such  a  result.  The  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  while  in  the  peaceful  pursuit  of  their  busi 
ness,  had  been,  attacked  by  an  armed  force  from  a  foreign 
nation,  and  a  portion  of  the  militia  of  the  country  is  even  now 
ordered  out  to  repel  such  hostility. 

*'  He  well  knew  that  the  spirit  of  the  people  on  the  United 
States  side  of  that  frontier  would  not  permit  them  to  stand 
tamely  by,  and  witness  such  assaults.  These  were  facts, 
vouched  for  by  respectable  citizens  as  true  and  authentic ;  and 
he  must  ask  if  they  were  not  such  as  to  warrant  the  offering 
of  such  a  proposition  as  he  had  moved.  It  makes  no  differ 
ence,  he  contended,  whether  one  or  one  hundred  miles  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  lias  been  invaded  by  the  arms 
of  a  foreign  nation;  the  jurisdiction  of  this  country  is  co-ex 
tensive  with  the  utmost  limits  of  her  territory.  Even  if  the 
vessel  which  was  attacked  had  been  carrying  munitions  of  war 
to  the  revolutionists  on  Navy  Island,  she  was  only  liable,  he 
contended,  to  be  attacked  while  within  the  British  lines.  As 
it  was,  he  agreed  with  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts, 
(Mr.  Adams,)  that  there  was  scarcely  a  parallel  to  this  act 
upon  the  pages  of  our  history  as  a  nation ;  and  it  was  to  sup 
pose  an  absolute  impossibility,  for  a  moment  to  imagine  that 
the  people  on  that  frontier  will  ever  submit  to  the  occurrence 
of  such  acts  without  complaint  and  redress.  It  was,  there 
fore,  in  any  view,  highly  important  that  the  House  should 
obtain  all  possible  information  upon  a  subject  so  important" 

In  urging  a  similar  resolution  on  a  subsequent  occasion, 
Mr.  Fillmore  assigned  as  a  reason,  that  the  information  might 


54  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

be  important  to  the  House,  in  case  it  should  become  necessary 
to  arm  the  frontier.  During  the  second  session  of  the  next 
Congress,  when  the  arrest  and  trial  of  McLeod  had  again 
called  attention  to  the  subject,  and  renewed  the  excitement  on 
the  frontier,  a  resolution  calling  on  the  Executive  for  informa 
tion  was  again  passed,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Fillmore.  It 
was  responded  to  by  the  President,  who  communicated  the 
correspondence  between  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
British  minister.  This  correspondence  was  referred  to  the 
committee  on  foreign  affairs,  who.made  a  report  which  went 
beyond  the  particular  case,  and  entered  into  a  general  incul 
pation  of  the  British  government.  Jealous  as  Mr.  Fillmore 
was  of  the  honor  of  his  country,  his  sense  of  justice  led  him 
to  disapprove  of  the  tone  of  that  report,  especially  as  lie 
thought  it  had  a  tendency  to  inflame  the  excitement,  which 
already  ran  too  high,  and  endangered  the  peace  of  the  country. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  objecting  to  the  printing  of  this 
report,  Mr.  Fillmore  said  : 

"  But  one  thing,  at  all  events,  should  be  borne  in  mind  by 
all  whose  duty  requires  them  to  act  on  this  subject  here. 
There  is  a  great  state  of  excitement  on  that  frontier,  which 
might  by  possibility  lead  to  an  outbreak.  My  objection  to 
the  printing  of  the  report  was,  that  it  was  calculated  to  inflame 
the  public  mind;  and  I  was  governed  in  that  vote  by  three 
reasons.  In  the  first  place,  I  did  not  wish  that  anything 
should  be  done  here  which  might  have  a  tendency  to  do  in 
justice  to  the  individual  who  is  soon  to  be  tried  by  the  laws 
of  the  State  of  New  York.  I  desire  that  the  law  should  have 
its  free  action,  that  no  excitement  should  be  raised  against 
McLeod,  which  might  prevent  a  fair-  and  impartial  trial.  In 
the  second  place,  I  do  not  desire  that  any  action  on  the  part 
of  this  House  should  compromise  or  control  the  Executive  of 
this  nation  in  the  negotiations  now  pending  between  the 
government  of  the  United  States  and  the  government  of 
Great  Britnin.  I  have  all  confidence  in  the  incoming  adminis 
tration.  If  this  controversy  can  be  amicably  and  honorably 


REMAKES   IN   CONGRESS.  55 

settled  between  the  two  governments,  I  desire  that  it  should. 
But  there  is  a  third  and  very  strong-  reason  in  my  mind 
against  anything  being  done  to  exasperate  the  public  mind 
on  the  subject  of  war  with  Great  Britain.  It  is  this:  for 
three  or  four  years  I  have  used  all  the  exertions  in  my  power 
to  induce  this  administration,  which  is  responsible  to  the 
country,  to  provide  some  means  of  defense  on  our  Northern 
frontier.  But  all  my  efforts  were  in  vain.  And  yet  the 
gentleman  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Pickens)  now  tells  us 
that  the  course  to  be  pursued  to  avoid  a  war  with  Great 
Britain,  is  to  stand  up  to  her — to  threaten  her — to  take  a  high 
stand ;  and  that,  he  says,  will  avert  a  war.  I  may  have  been, 
mistaken  in  the  meaning.  I  know  that  those  were  not  his 
words.  But  I  would  submit  to  him  that  the  best  way  to 
avoid  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  is  to  show  that  we  are  pre 
pared  to  meet  her,  if  there  is  to  be  war;  because  reasonable 
preparations  for  defense  are  better  than  gasconading. 

"Mr.  Fillmore  then  alluded  to  the  defenseless  condition  of 
the  Northern  frontier.  He  desired,  and  believed  the  whole 
country  desired,  that  we  should  yield  nothing  to  the  demands 
of  Great  Britain,  to  which  she  was  not  fairly  entitled.  But, 
at  the  same  time,  he  regarded  it  as  rather  the  act  of  a  mad 
man,  to  precipitate  the  country  into  a  war  before  it  was  pre 
pared  for  it,  than  the  act  of  a  statesman.  In  his  section  of 
country,  the.  people  would  yield  nothing  to  Great  Britain  to 
which  she  was  not  justly  entitled;  or  they  would  yield  it  only 
with  the  last  drop  of  their  blood.  But  he  did  not  wish  pre 
maturely  to  be  drawn  into  wyar;  he  did  not  wish  to  invite 
Great  Britain  to  invade  our  defenseless  coast.  The  true  plan 
was  to  prepare  for  war  if  we  had  yet  to  come  to  it,  but  to  do 
nothing  in  the  way  of  bragging.  If  it  did  come,  gentlemen 
would  not  find  his  (Mr.  F.'s)  people- shrinking  from  their  just 
share  of  responsibility.  All  they  had — their  property,  their 
lives,  everything — they  were  willing  to  devote,  if  need  be,  to 
the  service  and  honor  of  their  country.  But,  was  it  not  the 
part  of  wisdom  and  prudence,  before  we  made  a  declaration 
of  war,  to  prepare  for  it  ?  This  was  all  he  desired ;  and  if  this 
report  was  calculated  to  stir  up  a  war  feeling,  without  corre 
sponding  preparation  being  made  to  meet  the  consequences, 
he,  for  one,  was  opposed  to  it.  He  did  not  wish  the  country 
to  be  disgraced  by  defeat.  When  she  must  go  to  war,  he 


56  BIOGEAPHY    OF   MILLAED    FILLMOEE. 

desired  to  see  her  prepared  for  it ;  he  desired  to  see  her  placed 
in  a  situation  which  would  enable  her  to  bid  defiance  to  the 
power  of  any  government  on  earth." 

This  extract  evinces  the  same  combination  of  patriotism  and 
courage,  with  moderation  and  wisdom,  which  afterward  dis 
tinguished  the  foreign  policy  of  his  admirable  administration. 

Another  subject  in  which  Mr.  Fillmore  felt  deep  interest, 
was  connected  with  the  organization  of  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives,  at  the  opening  of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress. 
In  accordance  with  the  usual  custom,  the  clerk  of  the  last 
House  proceeded  to  call  the  roll.  When  he  reached  New 
Jersey,  which  was  entitled  to  six  members,  he  called  the  name 
of  one,  and  said  there  were  five  others,  who  likewise  had  cer 
tificates  of  election  from  the  governor  of  the  State,  but  that 
he  had  been  furnished  with  papers  questioning  the  validity  of 
their  election,  and  therefore  declined  to  call  their  names  until 
he  should  know  the  pleasure  of  the  House.  If  the  political 
parties  in  the  house  had  not  been  pretty  equally  balanced,  a 
circumstance  of  this  kind  would  have  occasioned  no  difficulty 
or  delay.  The  certificates  of  the  governor,  authenticated  by 
the  seal  of  the  State,  would  have  been  received  without  hesi 
tation  as  prima  facie  evidence  of  election ;  the  members 
would  have  been  sworn;  and  if,  after  the  organization,  their 
seats  had  been  contested  by  oth»r  claimants,  the  subject 
would  have  been  referred  to  a  committee  for  investigation, 
preparatory  to  the  final  decision  of  the  House. 

But  in  this  case,  parties  were  so  nearly  balanced  that  the 
organization  would  be  given  to  the  Whigs  or  Democrats,  accord 
ing  as  the  claimants  holding  the  certificates  of  the  governor 
were  admitted  or  rejected.  The  Democrats,  therefore,  con 
tended  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  House  to  decide  this  ques 
tion  before  proceeding  to  elect  a  Speaker,  while  the  Whigs,  on 
the  contrary,  claimed  that  certificates  of  the  governor  should 
be  regarded  as  conclusive,  until  the  House  was  regularly 


THE   NEW   JERSEY   ELECTION   CASE.  57 

organized.  On  the  fourtli  day  of  the  session,  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  elected  temporary  chairman,  and  two  weeks  were 
consumed  before  the  House  was  ready  to  commence  balloting 
for  a  Speaker.  The  discussion  in  which  all  this  time  had  been 
consumed,  hinged  on  the  question  whether  the  New  Jersey 
members  who  held  the  governor's  certificates,  should  be  per 
mitted  to  take  their  seats  and  participate  in  the  organization 
of  the  House.  Their  places  were  lost  (as  was  charged  a  day 
or  two  afterward  in  debate)  in  consequence  of  Henry  A. 
Wise's  lack  in  parliamentary  skill  in  proposing  an  affirmative 
resolution  for  their  admission,  instead  of  a  negative  one  for 
their  rejection.  The  vote  happened  to  be  a  tie,  and  the  reso 
lution  was  lost.  Had  it  been  negative  instead  of  affirmative,  it 
would  have  been  lost  in  the  same  manner,  and  by  the  failure 
of  a  vote  to  reject  them,  the  members  would  have  been  per 
mitted  to  take  their  seats.  As  soon  as  the  Speaker  had  been 
chosen,  the  discussion  of  the  New  Jersey  contested  seats  was 
resumed,  and  occupied  the  House  so  entirely,  to  the  obstruc 
tion  of  all  regular  business,  that  the  standing  committees  were 
not  announced  till  the  end  of  December.  Even  then  the  case 
had  not  been  decided,  and  indeed  had  scarcely  begun  to  be 
investigated.  The  committee  on  elections,  therefore,  became 
one  of  the  most  important  in  the  House,  from  the  great  inter 
est  which  attached  to  the  New  Jersey  case,  and  the  pervading 
excitement  of  the  public  mind.  Mr.  Fillmore  was  assigned  a 
prominent  place  on  that  committee,  and  distinguished  himself 
by  the  zeal  and  ability  with  which  he  supported  the  claim  of 
the  New  Jersey  members.  But  with  a  majority,  both  of  the 
House  and  the  committee,  against  him,  it  was  not  to  have  been 
expected  that  he  would  be  successful  in  controlling  a  result 
which  was  determined  on  strictly  party  grounds.  The  investiga 
tion  ran  on  until  nearly  the  middle  of  March.  Mr.  Fillmore  was 
prevented  from  reading  a  minority  report,  and,  by  an  appeal 
iruin  the  decision  uf  the  Cluiir,  who,  in  determining  a  point  of 
3* 


58  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 

order,  had  assigned  him  the  floor,  he  was  silenced  while  attempt- 
ing  to  make  a  speech.  Mr.  Fillmore  was  justly  indignant  at 
treatment  so  unfair,  and  finding  it  impossible  to  gain  a  hearing 
in  the  House,  he  addressed  a  long  and  very  elaborate  letter  to 
his  constituents,  in  which  he  ably,  and  with  great  clearness, 
argued  all  the  questions  involved  in  the  New  Jersey  case. 
The  manner  in  which  he  was  treated  by  the  majority  showed 
how  formidable  they  considered  his  opposition.  The  ability 
and  spirit  he  evinced  in  that  celebrated  controversy  had  a  great 
influence  in  gaining  for  him  the  confidence  of  his  party  and 
giving  him  his  important  position  in  the  next  Congress,  when 
the  Whigs  came  into  power.  His  immediate  constituents  tes 
tified  their  approbation  of  his  course  by  bestowing  on  him  at 
the  next  election  the  largest  majority  ever  given  in  his  con 
gressional  district. 


THE   TWENTY-SEVENTH   CONGRESS.  59 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    TWENTY-SEVENTH    CONGRESS. 

The  twenty-seventh  Congress  was  one  of  the"  most  memo 
rable  that  lias   ever  assembled  under  our  government.     JN"o 
presidential  election  has  ever  excited  a  deeper  interest  —  no 
electioneering  campaign  has  ever  been  conducted  with  greater 
warmth  and  spirit  —  no  political   revolution   recorded  in  our 
annals  has  ever  been  more  complete,  than  that  of  1840.     This 
great  movement  was  the  consequence  of  wide-spread  financial 
distress,  which  had  pervaded  the  country  for  the  two  or  three 
preceding   years.     Banks,   all   over  the   country,   had   either 
broken  down  or  suspended  specie  payments ;  merchants  and 
manufacturers  were  ruined ;  business  was  in  a  state  of  stagna 
tion  ;  and  the  public  mind  had  become  deeply  impressed  with 
the    idea   that    the    general   embarrassment  and  bankruptcy 
under  which  the  country  suffered,  was  due  to  political  causes. 
Whether  justly  or   unjustly,  the    party   in   power  was    held 
responsible  for  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  country.     That 
mighty  uprising  of  the  masses  by  which  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  overthrown,  not  only  elected  a  new  Presi 
dent,  but  brought  together  a  Congress   entertaining  political 
principles  the  reverse  of  those  which  had  prevailed  in  the 
public  councils  during  the  remarkable  period  composed  of  the 
twelve  preceding  years. 

It  is  not  our  province  to  review  the  controversies  which  were 
then  conducted  with  so  much  vehemence,  or  to  discuss  the 
policy  of  either  of  the  great  parties  of  that  interesting  period. 


60  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAED   FILLMOKE. 

At  this  distance  of  time,  when  the  passions  excited  by  hot 
debate  have  subsided,  the  issues  involved  do  not  seem  invested 
with  the  all-absorbing  importance  they  were  then  thought  to 
possess.  The  sub-treasury,  then  a  principal  object  of  partisan 
assault,  has  come  to  be  universally  regarded  as  wise  and  sal 
utary,  none  of  the  evils  having  followed  which  were  predicted 
from  its  operation;  a  national  bank,  then  regarded  by  one 
party  as  the  great  panacea  for  curing  all  the  disorders  of  the 
currency,  is  admitted  to  be  as  unnecessary  as  it  is  obsolete; 
while  within  the  last  few  months  we  have  seen  a  Democratic 
secretary  of  the  treasury  recommending  a  tariff  which  discrim 
inates  for  the  advantage  of  American  manufacturers,  and  a 

Democratic  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  advocatin<>- 

& 

a  bill  to  carry  out  the  recommendation.  It  is  a  strong  proof 
of  Mr.  Fillmore's  sagacity,  that  during  the  very  heat  and 
fervor  of  those  controversies,  his  views  were  substantially 
those  which  the  public  opinion  of  the  country  has  since  en 
dorsed.  True,  he  was  a  party  man,  and  his  opinions  were 
colored  by  his  political  associations;  but  it  is  an  evidence  of 
the  clearness  of  his  intellect  that,  so  far  as  he  differed  from  his 
party  he  leaned  toward  the  views  which  the  progress  of 
opinion  has  shown  to  be  correct.  We  saw,  in  our  last  chap 
ter,  that  as  early  as  1837  he  had  ceased  to  attach  any  import 
ance  to  a  United  States  Bank.  We  shall  see,  in  the  course 
of  the  present  chapter,  that  while  he  was  a  tariff  man,  and 
the  author  of  the  celebrated  tariff  of  1842,  his  views  of  the 
protective  policy  were  so  moderate  and  rational,  that  few  men 
of  any  political  party  would  be  found  to  dissent  from  them  at 
present. 

The  prominent  position  assigned  to  Mr.  Fillmore  in  the 
twenty-seventh  Congress,  is  a  proof  of  the  confidence  inspired 
by  his  previous  congressional  career.  No  sooner  did  his  party 
come  into  power,  than  they  manifested  their  high  appreciation 
of  his  wisdom  by  assigning  him  the  most  difficult  and  responsible 


CHAIltMAN    OF   WAYS    AND   MEANS.  61 

post  in  the  national  legislature.  The  political  revolution  which 
had  just  been  achieved  owed  its  success  to  the  financial  em 
barrassments  of  the  country  and  the  general  prostration  of 
business.  Not  only  private  but  public  credit  had  become 
impaired,  the  resources »of  the  government  being  as  inadequate 
to  its  wants  as  those  of  individuals.  The  annual  revenues  had 
sunk  to  thirteen  millions;  the  annual  expenditures  had  gone 
up  to  thirty-seven  millions;  and  the  government  was  largely 
in  debt.  As  financial  difficulties  had  brought  the  new  admin 
istration  into  power,  it  was  its  chief  duty  to  devise  financial 
remedies.  The  country  looked  to  it  for  the  restoration  of  con 
fidence,  the  revival  of  credit,  the  recovery  of  business  from  its 
prostration,  and  the  extrication  of  the  national  treasury  from 
impending  bankruptcy.  The  highest  mark  of  confidence  which 
the  Whig  party  could  at  that  time  have  bestowed  on  any  mem 
ber  of  Congress,  was  to  make  him  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  ways  and  means.  From  the  beginning  of  the  government 
all  revenue  bills  have  originated  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  the  labor  of  maturing  such  bills  devolves  on  the 
committee  of  ways  and  means.  The  chairman  of  that  com 
mittee,  besides  being  its  most  prominent  and  influential  mem 
ber,  is  the  organ  through  which  it  communicates  with  the 
House.  He  not  only  takes  a  leading  part  in  devising  measures 
and  arranging  their  details,  but  is  expected  to  explain  them  to 
the  House,  defend  them  against  objections,  and  ward  off  the 
assaults  of  keen-sighted  adversaries.  These  duties,  at  all  times 
arduous,  became  doubly  so  when  a  party  newly  elevated  to 
power  was  about  to  inaugurate  a  new  financial  policy.  That 
Millard  Fillmore  was  placed  in  this  responsible  position  shows 
that  he  must  have  given  previous  proofs  of  great  capacity. 
The  manner  in  which  he  acquitted  himself  in  it,  not  only 
justified  the  confidence  of  his  friends,  but  won  for  him  laurels 
which  any  statesman  might  be  proud  to  wear.  When  he 
retired  from  Congress  his  reputation  was  as  wide  as  the  limits 


62  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAKD   FILLMORE. 

of  the  country.  By  general  acclamation  he  was  declared  to  be 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  patriotic  members  of  a  party  which 
boasted  the  possession  of  many  great  men. 

The  course  of  our  narrative  takes  us  over  ground  which  has 
been  the  battle-field  of  contending  political  parties.  That  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  belonged  to  one  of  those  parties  is  im 
plied  in  the  fact  that  he  acted  a  prominent  part  in  the  legisla 
tion  of  the  country.  If  we  dwell  at  some  length  on  those  parts 
of  his  public  career  by  which  he  acquired  distinction,  it  is  not 
for  the  purpose  of  defending  the  politics  of  the  past,  but  to 
fulfill  the  task  we  have  assumed,  of  laying  before  the  reader 
a  candid  and  impartial  account  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  public  life, 
and  exhibiting  the  proofs  he  has  given  of  eminent  capacity  for 
public  affairs.  If  the  political  history  of  the  country  extended 
back  only  twenty-five  years,  it  could  easily  be  made  to  appeal- 
that  a  protective  tariff  was  a  purely  party  measure.  But  when 
we  go  beyond  that  period,  and  take  in  the  whole  history  of 
the  government,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  principle  of  protection 
is  no  more  a  Whig  than  it  is  a  Democratic  doctrine.  All  our 
Presidents,  down  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  have  publicly  recom 
mended  protection ;  and  even  Jackson  himself,  previous  to  his 
elevation  to  the  presidency,  showed  himself  as  strong  a  pro 
tectionist  as  there  was  in  the  country.  These  facts  are  men 
tioned,  not  as  arguments  either  for  or  against  protection,  but 
to  prove  that  Mr.  Fillmore's  identification  with  that  policy  in 
1842,  does  not  necessarily  identify  him  now  with  any  particu 
lar  party  of  our  past  politics.  When  Mr.  Clay  named  that 
policy  the  AMERICAN  SYSTEM,  he  disclosed  the  motive  for  its 
adoption,  which  no  doubt  acted  powerfully  on  his  own  mind 
and  on  those  of  many  other  patriotic  men.  It  was  thought 
that  to  protect  American  industry  would  foster  an  American 
spirit  and  cultivate  a  deeper  feeling  of  nationality.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  means,  the  motive  was  truly  patriotic. 
The  fires  of  American  feeling  which  have  recently  burst  forth 


GEN.  JACKSON'S  TARIFF  LETTER.  63 

with  so  much  splendor,  have  always  dimly  smouldered  beneath 
the  ashes  of  the  old  political  parties.  Desire  for  a  distinctive 
American  nationality  is  a  sentiment  which  has  often  sought 
expression  in  the  politics  of  the  country,  and  nowhere  can  we 
trace  it  more  legibly  than  in  the  history  of  opinion  on  the  sub 
ject  of  a  protective  tariff.  We  will  make  one  or  two  quotations 
in  illustration  of  this  point,  and  prefer  to  draw  them  from  Dem 
ocratic  sources. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  of  Gen.  Jackson  to 
Dr.  L.  H.  Coleman,  of  North  Carolina,  dated  Washington, 
August  26th,  1824: 

*  *  *  *  a  Heaven  smiled  upon  and  gave  us  liberty  and 
independence.  The  same  Providence  has  blessed  us  with  the 
means  of  national  independence  and  national  defense.  If  we 
omit  or  refuse  to  use  the  gifts  which  he  has  extended  to  us, 
we  deserve  not  the  continuance  of  his  blessing.  He  has  filled 
our  mountains  and  our  plains  with  minerals  —  with  lead,  iron, 
and  copper  —  and  given  us  a  climate  and  soil  for  the  growing 
of  hemp  and  wool.  These  being  the  great  materials  of  our 
national  defense,  they  ought  to  have  extended  to  them  ade 
quate  and  fair  protection,  that  our  manufacturers  and  laborers 
may  be  placed  in  a  fair  competition  with  those  of  Europe,  and 
that  we  may  have  within  our  country  a  supply  of  these  lead 
ing  and  important  articles  so  essential  to  war. 

"I  will  ask,  what  is  the  real  situation  of  the  agriculturist? 
Where  has  the  American  farmer  a  market  for  his  surplus  pro 
duce  ?  Except  for  cotton,  he  has  neither  a  foreign  nor  a  home 
market.  Does  not  this  clearly  prove,  when  there  is  no  market 
at  home,  or  abroad,  that  there  is  too  much  labor  employed  in 
agriculture  ?  Common  sense  at  once  points  out  the  remedy. 
Take  from  agriculture  in  the  United  States  six  hundred  thou 
sand  men,  women,  and  children,  and  you  will  at  once  give  a  mar 
ket  for  more  breadstuff's  than  all  Europe  now  furnishes  us  with. 

"  Tn  short,  sir,  we  have  been  too  long  subject  to  the  policy 
of  British  merchants.  It  is  time  we  should  become  a  little 
more  AMERICANIZED,  and  instead  of  feeding  paupers  and  labor 
ers  of  England,  feed  our  own ;  or  else,  in  a  short  time,  by  con 
tinuing  our  present  policy,  we  shall  be  paupers  ourselves. 


64:  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAKD    FILLMOKE. 

"It  is,  therefore,  my  opinion,  that  a  careful  and  judicious 
tariff  is  much  wanted,  to  pay  our  national  debt,  and  to  afford 
us  the  means  of  that  defense  within  ourselves,  on  which  the 
safety  of  our  country  and  liberties  depends;  and  last,  though 
not  least,  give  a  proper  distribution  of  our  labor,  which  must 
prove  beneficial  to  the  happiness,  wealth,  and  independence 
of  the  community. 

"I  am  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"ANDREW  JACKSON." 

The  Tammany  Society  of  New  York  is  one  of  the  oldest 
Democratic  associations  in  the  country.  In  the  year  1810,  it 
published  an  elaborate  circular  bearing  the  following  title: 
"Address  of  the  Society  of  Tammany,  or  Columbian  Order, 
to  its  absent  members,  and  the  members  of  its  several  branches 
throughout  the  United  States."  From  this  address  we  make 
the  following  extracts: 

"To  divide  and  conquer,  is  the  maxim  of  our  constitutional 
enemy.  The  encouragement  of  our  domestic  resources  will 
make  us  a  united  people.  This  nation  will  become  one  great 
family,  giving  and  taking  from  each  other.  Let  us,  then,  trea 
sure  up  the  maxim  of  wisdom,  that  concert  is  stronger  than 
numbers.  Another  benefit,  and  not  among  the  least  which 
would  arise  from  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures, 
would  be  the  exclusion  of  ail  foreign  agents,  whether  Scotch, 
English,  French,  or  German.  This  species  of  cormorant  char 
acter  holds  in  its  hand  the  capital  of  some  man  abroad,  who 
never  intends  to  step  his  foot  upon  our  shores,  and  with  this 
capital  extracts  from  the  country  the  profits  of  its  traffic,  on  a 
perfect  commercial  equality  with  the  American  citizen.  This 
is  continued  until  he  accumulates  a  given  heap  of  riches  for 
himself  and  his  patron,  and  then,  after  oppressing  all  around 
him  to  wind  up  his  u/airs,  he  modestly  returns  to  his  foreign 
home,  and,  retiring  in  opulence,  contributes  to  the  wealth  and 
resources  of  that  nation  which  might  next  declare  war  against, 
us.  This  is,  in  fact,  furnishing  the  sinews  of  war  to  other 
nations,  for  it  would  be  American  profits  on  which  this  agent 
would  live  in  his  own  country.  The  truth  is,  that  we  have 


THE    TAMMANY    ADDRESS.  65 

progressed  so  far,  that  \ve  want  no  population,  and  should 
receive  none,  except  those  who  intend  to  spend  their  lives  and 
increase  their  posterity  among  us.  As  the  United  States  are 
inhabited  by  more  foreign  agents  than  any  nation  on  earth,  in 
proportion  to  their  population,  it  will  appear,  upon  calculation, 
that  this  is  a  very  improvident  mode  of  parting  with  the  na 
tional  treasure.  Banish  the  foreign  goods  as  far  as  our  manu 
factures,  under  the  magnanimous  care  of  Congress,  can  banish 
them,  and  the  visits  of  those  vultures  would  soon  cease.  In 
their  place  would  stand  the  honest  manufacturer,  receiving  a 
fair  profit  for  the  fabric  of  his  own  hand.  But  the  picture  of 
evil,  arising  from  these  foreign  agents,  has  not  been  sufficiently 
extended.  Their  transactions  with  our  citizens  are  often  insid 
ious  and  oppressive.  They  have  not  the  sympathies  of  coun 
try  or  national  fellow-feeling  to  meliorate  their  cupidity.  In 
their  indulgences  they  are  actuated  by  interest  alone,  and  in 
their  enforcement  of  debts  they  are  restrained  by  no  princi 
ples.  They  are  at  this  moment  to  be  seen  in  swarms,  in  their 
visits  to  the  interior  of  our  country,  and  our  remotest  western 
waters.  And  such  is  the  prejudice  with  which  they  are  viewed 
by  the  honest,  but  embarrassed  debtors  in  those  places,  that 
they  have  entailed  upon  themselves  the  name  of  that  gloom}7 
bird  which  hovers  over  and  lives  upon  the  carrion  of  the  desert." 
********* 

"The  want  of  reciprocity  —  or  rather  the  wise  internal 
policy  of  other  nations  as  to  the  rights  of  foreign  agents  — 
the  consumption  of  foreign  productions,  and  the  encourage 
ment  of  foreign  manufactures,  are  to  us  loud  warnings  to  draw 
to  ourselves,  and  cherish  the  indigenous  strength  with  which 
Providence  has  blessed  us.  *  *  *  It  would  be  found 
that  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures  in  the  modes 
above  pointed  out,  would  essentially  lead  to  habits  of  economy, 
both  in  the  people  and  the  government,  as  such.  For  when 
this  highly  simple  and  American  system  shall  have  begun  to 
operate,  many  concomitant  habits,  partaking  of  its  character, 
will  be  seen  in  its  train." 

These  extracts  and  General  Jackson's  letter  to  Dr.  Coleman, 
prove  that  a  protective  tariff  is  not  a  policy  peculiar  to  any  one 
party  of  the  past;  and  that  whatever  may  be  its  merits  or 


66  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAED    FILLMORE. 

demerits  on  other  grounds,  many  of  those  who  have  cherished 
it  did  so  under  the  impression  that  it  would  be  the  means  of 
cultivating  a  more  purely  American  spirit,  and  of  preventing 
foreigners  from  depriving  us  of  advantages  which  belong  to 
our  own  people.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  doctrine, 
members  of  the  American  party  must  pardon  something  to 
the  spirit  in  which  it  was  cherished. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  although  Mr.  Fillmore  was 
the  author  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  and  acquired  great  reputation 
from  the  ability  with  which  he  advocated  it,  his  views  were  so 
moderate  and  just,  that  they  would  even  at  present  command 
nearly  universal  assent.  Of  course  no  one  understands  us  to 
mean  that  it  would  be  wise  to  revive  the  tariff  of  1842.  That 
was  a  system  adapted  to  the  peculiar  exigencies  of  the  time, 
exigencies  which  have  long  since  passed.  But  the  general 
principles  on  which  it  was  founded  may  even  now  be  pre 
sented  without  incurring  the  hazard  that  they  will  run  counter 
to  the  general  opinion  of  the  country. 

We  make  the  following  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by 
Mr.  Fillmore  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  June  9th,  1842: 

"Although  this  is  the  view  which  I  am  disposed  to  take  of 
this  bill,  and  although  I  am  willing  to  listen  to  any  amend 
ments  to  add  to  or  diminish  the  duty  on  any  article,  with  a 
view  of  increasing  the  revenue,  yet  I  have  no  disguise  of  my 
own  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  protecting  our  own  industry. 
1  am  free  to  admit  that  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  either  feel, 
or  profess  to  feel,  indifferent  to  our  own  interests.  1  prefer 
my  own  country  to  all  others,  and  my  opinion  is  that  we  must 
take  care  of  ourselves;  and  while  I  would  not  embarrass  trade 
between  this  and  any  foreign  country  by  any  illiberal  restric 
tions,  yet,  if  by  legislation  or  negotiation,  an  advantage  is  to 
be  given  to  one  over  the  other,  I  prefer  my  own  country  to  all 
the  world  besides.  I  admit  that  duties  may  be  so  levied, 
ostensibly  for  revenue,  yet  designedly  for  protection,  as  to 
amount  to  prohibition,  and  consequently  to  the  total  loss  of 
revenue.  1  arn  for  no  such  protection  as  that.  I  have  no 


SPEECH    ON    THE    TARIFF.  67 

disguise  of  my  opinions  on  this  subject.  I  believe  that  if  all 
the  restrictive  systems  were  done  away  with,  here  and  in 
every  other  country,  and  we  could  confidently  rely  on  con 
tinued  peace,  that  would  be  the  most  prosperous  and  happy 
state.  The  people  of  every  country  would  then  produce  that 
which  their  habits,  skill,  climate,  soil,  or  situation  enabled  them 
to  produce  to  the  greatest  advantage;  each  would  then  sell 
where  he  could  obtain  the  most,  and  buy  where  he  could  pur- 
. chase  cheapest;  and  thus  we  should  see  a  trade  as  free  among 
the  nations  of  the  world  as  we  now  witness  among  the  several 
States  of  this  Union.  But,  however  beautiful  this  may  be  in 
theory,  I  look  for  no  such  political  millennium  ao  this.  Wars 
will  occur  until  man  changes  his  nature;  and  duties  will  be 
imposed  upon  our  products  in  other  countries,  until  man  shall 
cease  to  be  selfish,  or  kings  can  find  a  more  convenient  mode 
of  raising  revenue  than  by  imposts. 

"  These,  then,  form  the  true  justification  for  laying  duties  in 
a  way  to  protect  our  own  industry  against  that  of  foreign 
nations.  First.  A  reasonable  apprehension  of  war,  for  no 
nation  can  always  hope  to  be  at  peace.  If,  therefore,  there  is 
any  article  that  is  indispensably  necessary  for  the  subsistence 
of  a  nation,  and  the  nation  can  produce  it,  that  nation  is  not 
independent  if  it  do  not.  If  it  is  necessary,  the  production 
should  be  encouraged  by  high  duties  on  the  imported  article. 
This  should  be  done,  not  for  the  benefit  of  persons  who  may 
engage  in  the  manufacture  or  cultivation  of  the  desired  article, 
but  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  community:  what  though 
each  pays  a  little  higher  for  the  article  in  time  of  peace  than 
he  otherwise  would,  yet  he  is  fully  compensated  for  this  in 
time  of  war.  He  then  has  this  necessary,  of  which  he  would 
be  wholly  deprived  had  he  not  provided  for  it  by  a  little  self- 
sacrifice.  We  all  act  upon  this  principle  individually;  and 
why  should  we  not  as  a  nation  ?  We  accumulate  in  time  of 
plenty  for  a  day  of  famine  and  distress.  Every  man  pays, 
from  year  to  year,  a  small  sum  to  insure  his  house  against  fire, 
submitting  willingly  to  this  annual  tax,  that,  when  the  day  of 
misfortune  comes,  (if  come  it  shall,)  the  overwhelming  calam 
ity  of  having  all  destroyed  may  be  mitigated  by  receiving 
back  from  the  insurer  a  partial  compensation  for  the  loss.  It 
is  upon  the  same  principle  that  we  maintain  an  army  and  a 
navy  in  time  of  peace,  and  pour  out  millions  annually  for  their 


68  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

support:  not  because  we  want  them  then,  but  because  it  is 
reasonable  to  apprehend  that  war  may  come,  and  then  they 
will  be  wanted;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  economy  to  provide 
and  discipline  them  in  time  of  peace,  to  mitigate  the  evils 
of  war  when  it  does  come.  The  same  reason  requires  us  to 
encourage  the  production  of  any  indispensable  article  of  sub 
sistence.  I  shall  not  stop  now  to  inquire  what  these  articles 
are.  Every  one  can  judge  for  himself.  But  that  there  arc 
many  such,  no  one  can  doubt. 

"  But,  secondly,  there  is  yet  another  case  where  I  hold  that 
we  are  not  only  Justin' ed,  but  required  to  encourage  and  pro 
tect  our  own  industry ;  and  I  regret  to  say  that  this  is  a  case, 
which,  for  obvious  reasons,  always  has,  and  1  fear  always  will 
exist:  it  is  where  foreign  nations,  by  their  owrn  legislation, 
exclude  our  products  from  their  markets.  We,  as  a  whole, 
are  an  agricultural  nation,  occupying  one  of  the  broadest  and 
most  fertile  tracts  of  country  in  the  world.  The  South  pro 
duces  sugar,  cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco;  and  the  North  and 
West  produce  beef,  pork,  and  breadstuffs.  It  appears,  by  the 
last  census,  that  we  have  3, 7 17, 756  persons  engaged  in  agri 
culture,  and  only  791,545  in  manufactures  and  trades,  being 
nearly  five  to  one  employed  in  agriculture.  Our  lands  are 
cheap  and  our  soils  productive;  but  if  other  nations  prohibit 
the  introduction  of  our  agricultural  products  to  their  markets 
by  high  duties,  what  is  our  remedy  ?  We  want  their  manu 
factures  ;  we  offer  them  our  breadstuffs  in  exchange ;  but  they 
refuse  to  receive  them :  what  shall  we  do  ?  I  say,  meet  re 
striction  by  restriction.  Impose  duties  on  their  manufactures, 
and  thereby  encourage  a  portion  of  our  own  people,  now  rais 
ing  wheat  and  corn  to  rot  in  their  granaries,  to  engage  in 
manufactures,  thus  lessening  the  amount  of  agricultural  pro 
ducts  by  converting  a  part  of  your  producers  into  consumers, 
thereby  creating  a  home  market  for  your  agricultural  products, 
and  thus  raising  their  price.  Is  not  this  just?  Great  Britain 
has  no  right  to  complain  that  we  meet  restriction  by  restric 
tion.  We  offer  her  our  flour,  pork  and  beef,  for  her,  iron, 
cloths,  and  other  manufactures.  She  refuses  our  products, 
and  draws  upon  our  specie,  crippling  our  banks,  deranging  our 
currency,  and  paralyzing  our  industry.  We  must  protect 
ourselves,  create  and  preserve  a  market  for  our  own  products, 


SPEECH   ON   THE  TARIFF.  69 

until  she  will  consent  to  meet  us  on  equal  terms;  and  this, 
not  by  way  of  retaliation,  but  in  self-defense. 

"  But  it  may  be  said  that  this  protection  is  given  for  the 
purpose  of  benefiting  those  engaged  in  manufactures.  I  am 
wholly  opposed  to  legislating  for  one  part  of  the  community  at 
the  expense  of  another.  All  are  equally  entitled  to  our  pro 
tection;  and  if  duties  are  so  levied  as  to  protect  any  particular 
manufacture,  it  must  be  because  the  nation  has  an  interest  in 
encouraging  it,  and  not  for  the  benefit  of  those  engaged  in  it. 
It  is  all  idle  to  think  of  benefiting  any  particular  class  by"  pro 
tection.  This  can  only  be  done  by  giving  a  monopoly  to  a  few 
individuals.  No  monopoly  can  be  created  by  laying  duties. 
If  the  duties  raise  the  price  so  high  as  to  tempt  persons  to 
engage  in  the  manufacture,  every  one  is  at  liberty  to  do  so; 
and  the  consequence  usually  is,  that  so  many  engage  that  they 
soon  compete  with  each  other ;  and,  instead  of  being  profitable 
to  themselves,  they  cheapen  the  article  to  the  consumer, 
while  the  manufacturer  makes  little  or  nothing.  I  say,  there 
fore,  again,  that  it  is  all  idle  to  talk  of  protection  for  the  benefit 
of  particular  classes.  It  should  never  be  given  but  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community;  and,  if  designed  for  any  other 
object,  an  over-ruling  law  of  trade  (as  I  have  shown)  will 
inevitably  defeat  that  design. 

"  But  I  take  a  distinction  between  the  encouragement  and 
protection  of  manufacturers.  It  is  one  thing  for  the  govern 
ment  to  encourage  its  citizens  to  abandon  their  ordinary  pur 
suits  and  engage  in  a  particular  branch  of  industry ;  and  a 
very  different  thing  whether  the  government  is  bound  to 
protect  that  industry  by  laws  similar  to  those  by  which  it 
encouraged  its  citizens  to  embark  in  it.  In  the  first  case, 
there  is  no  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  government.  Its  act 
is  entirely  voluntary  and  spontaneous.  It  may  or  may  not 
encourage  the  production  or  manufacture  of  a  particular  article, 
as  it  shall  judge  best  for  the  whole  community.  Before  at- 
tem  ting  it,  the  government  should  weigh  well  the  advantages 
and  disadvantages  which  are  likely  to  result  to  the  whole,  and 
not  to  the  particular  class  which  may  be  tempted  to  engage. 
If  a  particular  branch  of  industry  is  so  important  in  its  bear 
ings  upon  the  public  wants,  on  account  of  its  providing  in  time 
of  peace  for  some  necessary  article  in  time  of  war,  then,  as 
the  strongest  advocates  of  free  trade  themselves  admit,  the 


'70  BIOGEAPHY    OF   MILLAKD    FILLMORE. 

government  may  and  should  legislate  with  a  view  to  encoilrage 
its  establishment;  and  so,  likewise,  if  it  be  necessary  to  provide 
a  home  market  for  our  products  in  consequence  of  the  prohibi 
tory  duties  levied  upon  them  "by  foreign  countries.  But  all 
these  are  questions  to  be  decided  according  to  the  circum 
stances  of  each  particular  case;  and  (as  I  said)  the  decision 
should  be  made  with  a  view  to  the  benefit  of  all,  and  not  of  a 
few,  or  of  any  particular  class  or  section  of  country.  But 
when  the  government  has  decided  that  it  is  best  to  give  the 
encouragement,  and  the  citizen  has  been  induced  by  our 
legislation  to  abandon  his  former  pursuits,  and  to  invest  his 
capital  and  apply  his  skill  and  labor  to  the  production  of  the 
article  thus  encouraged  by  government,  then  a  new  question 
arises — for  another  party  has  become  interested — and  that  is, 
whether  we  will,  by  our  subsequent  legislation,  withdraw  our 
protection  from  the  citizen  whom  we  have  thus  encouraged  to 
embark  his  all  in  a  particular  branch  of  business  for  the  good 
of  the  public,  and  overwhelm  him  with  ruin  by  our  unsteady, 
not  to  say  perfidious,  legislation.  I  can  consent  to  no  such 
thing.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  manifestly  unjust.  Our  act  in 
the  lirst  instance  is  free  and  voluntary.  We  may  give  the 
encouragement  or  not:  but,  having  given  it,  the  public  faith 
is,  to  a  certain  extent,  pledged.  Those  who  have  accepted 
our  invitation,  and  embarked  in  these  new  pursuits,  have  done 
so  under  the  implied  promise  on  our  part  that  the  encourage 
ment  thus  given  should  not  be  treacherously  withdrawn,  and 
that  we  would  not  tear  down  what  we  had  encouraged  them 
to  build  up.  This  I  conceive  to  be  a  just,  clear,  and  broad 
distinction  between  encouragement  beforehand  and  protection 
afterward.  The  former  is  voluntary,  depending  wholly  upon 
considerations  of  public  policy  and  expediency ;  the  latter  is  a 
matter  of  good  faith  to  those  who  have  trusted  to  the  na 
tional  honor. 

"  These  are  my  views  on  the  subject  of  encouraging  and 
protecting  home  industry  by  legislation;  not  that  I  deem  them 
of  any  importance  to  the  bill  under  consideration — for  I  regard 
this  as  a  revenue  bill,  and  to  be  passed  and  justified  on  that 
ground.  I  do  not  deny  that  the  effect  will  be  to  encourage 
and  protect  home  manufactures,  and  thereby  create  a  home 
market  for  our  agricultural  products — and  others,  as  well  as 
myself,  may  vote  for  it  more  willingly  on  this  account;  yet  all 


THE   TAEIFF.  71 

tins  is  a  mere  incident  of  raising  revenue  by  imposing  duties 
on  goods  imported.  It  depends  not  on  design  or  intent:  it 
results  as  a  necessary  and  inevitable  consequence.  We  can 
not  avoid  it  if  we  would.  If  we  impose  a  duty  of  one  dollar 
on  every  yard  of  cloth  imported,  the  duty  is  laid,  not  to  in 
crease  the  value  of  the  cloth,  and  thereby  protect  the  home 
manufacturer,  but  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  treasury;  yet,  as 
a  consequence,  it  encourages  and  protects  the  home  manufac 
turer;  and  we  can  not  avoid  it.  No  human  foresight  can  pre 
vent  it;  no  ingenuity  can  avoid  it;  and,  indeed,  no  design  can 
aid  it.  Intention  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter." 

It  may  interest  the  reader  to  know  what  impression  Mr. 
Fillmore  made  on  persons  who  visited  the  gallery  of  the  House 
during  the  sessions  of  the  Congress  in  which  he  was  achieving 
a  high  standing  in  his  party  and  a  proud  position  among  the 
statesmen  of  the  country.  We  therefore  copy  the  following 
from  a  series  of  sketches  which  appeared  in  a  literary  paper  in 
New  York  city  in  the  summer  of  1842 : 

"MILLARD  FILLMORE,  OF  NEW  YORK.  —  This  is  the  distin 
guished  representative  from  the  city  of  Buffalo,  and  at  present 
chairman  of  the  committee  of  ways  and  means,  a  situation  both 
arduous  and  responsible.  He  stands  in  the  same  relation  to 
the  United  States  government  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
that  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  does  to  the  government 
of  Great  Britain  in  the  House  of  Parliament.  He  is  emphati 
cally  the  financial  organ  of  the  legislature.  In  the  House  of 
Representatives  all  bills  affecting  the  revenue  originate.  These 
are  presented  by  the  ways  and  means  committee  —  matured 
by  it  —  and  its  chairman  has  to  explain  their  object  and  the  data 
upon  which  they  are  based.  He  is  obliged  to  make  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  situation  of  the  national  treas- 
urv  —  has  to  examine  its  details  —  become  familiar  with  its 
wants  —  its  expenditure  —  its  income,  present  and  prospect 
ive  —  and  be  ever  ready  to  give  to  the  house  a  full  exposition 


72        BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLAKD  FILLMORE. 

of  all  the  measures  he  may  present  for  consideration.  To  dis 
charge  the  duties  which  this  post  enjoins,  faithfully,  requires 
both  physical  and  mental  capacity  of  a  high  order,  and  I  be 
lieve  they  could  not  have  devolved  upon  an  individual  better 
qualified  than  the  subject  of  this  notice.  In  every  respect  will 
he  be  found  equal  to  the  task  assigned  him. 

"  Mr.  Fillmorc  in  person  is  perhaps  five  feet  ten  inches  tall, 
stout  and  finely  formed.  His  limbs  are  graceful ;  he  has  an  erect 
and  easy  walk,  and  a  well  developed  chest.  His  complexion 
is  quite  light;  has  lively  blue  eyes,  a  smooth  forehead  marked 
by  breadth  rather  than  height,  and  retreats  slightly  into  a  head 
of  thin  grayish  hair.  His  face  is  broad  and  regular  in  its  out 
lines;  has  a  small  nose,  and  handsome  Grecian  mouth  and 
white  teeth.  His  features,  without  being  very  strongly  mark 
ed,  are  decidedly  expressive  and  agreeable,  and  in  or  out  of 
Congress  there  are  few  better  looking  men.  His  appear 
ance  would  attract  attention  anywhere,  as  his  abilities  qualify 
him  for  any  station.  In  his  temperament  he  is  phlegmatic 
—  is  always  self-composed,  and  all  his  acts  are  controlled 
by  the  dictates  of  his  judgment.  He  weighs  everything 
in  the  most  prudent  manner  —  enters  into  a  nice  calcula 
tion  —  and  is  never  misled  by  the  promptings  of  his  heart. 
He  is  the  incarnation  of  truth  and  integrity.  Never  would  he 
"hold  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear,  and  break  it  to  the 
sense."  He  would  never  raise  hopes  and  then  blast  them. 
He  is  frank,  open  and  manly.  In  public  life  and  in  private  he 
is  without  guile;  pure  and  untarnished.  Indeed  I  question 
whether  he  was  ever  tempted  to  go  astray.  He  seems  not  to 
have  inherited  the  frailties  generally  found  among  the  descend 
ants  of  Adam,  and  hence  he  may  possibly  have  too  little  charity 
for,  and  judges  too  severely  of,  those  less  coolly  constituted 
than  himself.  His  talents  are  of  a  high  grade;  is  a  sound 
thinker,  and  very  sagacious;  not  showy  or  brilliant,  but  plain 
and  sensible ;  and  never  attempts  to  make  a  display  or  to 


AN   ESTIMATE    OF   HIS    CHARACTER.  73 

"show  off."  His  judgment  is  very  clear,  and  he  has  no  emo 
tions  which  ever  over-ride  it;  is  always  to  be  relied  upon,  and 
whatever  he  undertakes  he  will  master.  He  never  takes  a 
stride  without  testing  his  foothold.  He  belongs  to  that  rare 
class  whose  merits  are  developed  with  every  day's  use;  in 
whose  minds  new  beauties  and  new  riches  are  discovered  as 
they  are  examined  into.  He  has  a  high  legal  reputation; 
possesses  great  industry ;  is  agreeable  in  conversation,  and  his 
information  upon  general  subjects,  without  being  profound,  is 
varied  and  extensive.  As  a  shrewd,  sagacious  politician  —  by 
this  I  do  not  mean  that  he  is  particularly  skilled  in  mere  par 
tisan  strategy  —  there  are  few  men  in  the  country  superior  to 
him  —  perhaps  none. 

"As  a  public  speaker,  Mr.  Fillmore  is  not  distinguished.  He 
is  no  orator,  but  a  plain  matter  of  fact  debater.  He  never 
soars  into  the  regions  of  fancy,  indulges  in  rhetorical  flourishes, 
or  adorns  his  logic  with  poetry.  The  gaudy  plumes  of  fiction 
he  leaves  other  hands  to  pluck,  while  he  is  garnering  up  the 
stores  of  reality;  nevertheless  he  is  a  good  and  interesting 
speaker — very  intellectual,  sound  and  perspicuous  —  with  a 
distinct  voice  and  a  dignified  easy  manner.  He  speaks  not  to 
the  passions  of  men,  or  attempts  to  move  their  hearts.  He 
aims  at  their  reason  and  judgment,  and  his  arguments  are 
couched  in  language  intelligible  to  the  meanest  capacity  — 
avoids  high-sounding  phrases  —  an  evidence  of  good  taste  and 
good  sense  none  the  less  commendable  for  its  rarity  among 
public  speakers  of  the  present  day,  who  generally,  when  they 
give  birth  to  a  new  idea — an  occurrence  that  seldom  hap 
pens —  send  it  forth  in  a  garb  so  unsuitable  and  fantastic  as 
to  hide  it  from  the  view  of  ordinary  visions.  As  a  public  man, 
I  know  of  none — not  one  —  of  greater  promise  than  Mr.  F. 
He  has  many  of  the  highest  attributes  of  greatness,  and  is 
still  a  young  man,  not  to  exceed  forty-one  years  of  age,  and 
must  continue  to  rise  in  public  estimation  as  his  character  shall 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD    FILLMORE. 

be  developed.  He  has  been  a  member  of  Congress  some  six 
years,  and  was  previously  an  active  member  of  the  State  As 
sembly.  As  a  useful,  practical,  efficient,  and  enlightened  leg 
islator,  he  has  no  superior,  and  very  few  equals  among  his 
associates.  And  the  Queen  City  of  the  Lakes  may  be  justly 
proud,  as  I  know  she  is,  of  so  able  a  representative,  so  eminent 
a  citizen,  of  a  statesman  whose  public  career  is  so  bright  and 
so  full  of  promise." 

In  July,  1842,  Mr.  Fillmore  addressed  a  letter  to  his  con 
stituents  declining  a  re-election.  We  copy  the  opening  and 
two  or  three  of  the  closing  paragraphs: 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  Having  long  since  determined  not  to 
be  a  candidate  for  re-election,  I  have  felt  that  my  duty  to  you 
required  that  I  should  give  you  seasonable  notice  of  that  deter 
mination.  The  chief  causes  which  have  brought  me  to  this 
resolution,  being  mostly  of  a  personal  character,  are  unimpor 
tant,  and  would  be  uninteresting  to  you  or  the  public.  It  is 
sufficient  to  say,  that  I  am  not  prompted  to  this  course  by 
anything  in  the  present  aspect  of  political  affairs.  Many  of 
you  know  that  I  desired  to  withdraw  before  the  last  congress 
ional  election,  but  owing  to  the  importance  of  that  contest,  the 
desire  for  unanimity,  and  the  hope  that  if  the  administration 
were  changed,  I  might  render  some  essential  local  service  to 
my  district  and  those  generous  friends  who  had  so  nobly  sus 
tained  our  cause,  I  was  induced  to  stand  another  canvass. 
But  how  sadly  have  all  been  disappointed!  How  has  that 
sun  which  rose  in  such  joyous  brightness  to  millions  been 
shrouded  in  gloom  and  sorrow!  The  lamented  Harrison, 
around  whom  clustered  a  nation's  prayers  and  blessings,  is 
now  no  more.  For  reasons  inscrutable  to  us,  and  known  only 
to  an  all-wise  Providence,  he  was  cut  down  in  a  moment  of 
triumph,  and  in  his  grave  lie  buried  the  long  cherished  hopes 
of  a  suffering  nation. 

********* 

"  But,  fellow-citizens,  I  have  said  more  than  I  intended,  and 
regret  that  I  have  not  time  to  say  it  more  briefly.  I  can  not. 
however,  consent  to  bring  this  hasty  letter  to  a  close  without 


DECLINES    A    EE-ELECTION    TO    CONGRESS.  75 

expressing  the  deep  emotions  of  gratitude  that  fill  my  heart 
when  1  look  back  upon  your  kindness  and  devotion.  Pardon 
the  personal  vanity,  though  it  be  a  weakness,  that  induces  me 
to  recur  for  a  moment  to  the  cherished  recollections  of  your 
early  friendship  and  abiding  confidence.  I  can  not  give  vent 
to  the  feelings  of  my  heart  without  it. 

"  It  is  now  nearly  fourteen  years  since  you  did  me  the  un 
solicited  honor  to  nominate  me  to  represent  you  in  the  State 
Legislature.  Seven  times  have  I  received  renewed  evidence 
of  your  confidence  by  as  many  elections,  with  constantly  in 
creasing  majorities ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  my  present  con 
gressional  term,  I  shall  have  served  you  three  years  in  the 
iState  and  eight  years  in  the  national  councils.  1  can  not  call 
to  mind  the  thousand  acts  of  generous  devotion  from  so  many 
friends  who  will  ever  be  dear  to  my  heart,  without  feeling  the 
deepest  emotion  of  gratitude.  I  came  among  you  a  poor  and 
friendless  boy.  You  kindly  took  me  by  the  hand  and  gave  me 
your  confidence  and  support.  You  have  conferred  upon  rne 
distinction  and  honor,  for  which  I  could  make  no  adequate 
return  but  by  an  honest  and  untiring  effort  faithfully  to  dis 
charge  the  high  trusts  which  you  confided  to  my  keeping.  If 
my  humble  efforts  have  met  your  approbation,  i  freely  admit 
that  next  to  the  approval  of  my  own  conscience  it  is  the  high 
est  reward  which  I  could  receive  for  days  of  unceasing  toil  and 
nights  of  sleepless  anxiety. 

"  I  profess  not  to  be  above  or  below  the  common  frailties  of 
our  nature.  1  will  therefore  not  disguise  the  fact  that  1  was 
highly  gratified  at  my  first  election  to  Congress,  yet  I  can 
truly  say  that  my  utmost  ambition  has  been  satisfied.  I 
aspire  to  nothing  more,  and  shall  retire  from  the  exciting 
scenes  of  political  strife  to  the  quiet  enjoyments  of  my  own 
family  and  fireside  with  still  more  satisfaction  than  I  felt  when 
first  elevated  to  this  distinguished  station. 

"In  conclusion  permit  me  again  to  return  you  my  warmest 
thanks  for  your  kindness,  which  is  deeply  engraven  upon  my 
heart.  "  I  remain  sincerely  and  truly, 

"  Your  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

"  MlLLARD  FlLLMOUK." 

This  resolution  to  retire  from  public  life  occasioned  profound 
regret.  In  every  part  of  the  country  the  Whig  press  expressed 


76  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAED   FILLMORE. 

its  sense  of  the  loss  the  party  was  about  to  sustain,  and  passed 
the  highest  eulogiums  on  the  public  services  of  a  statesman 
who  had  acquitted  himself  with  so  much  honor  to  himself  and 
such  eminent  usefulness  to  the  country.  Not  only  the  politi 
cal  press,  but  some  of  the  most  distinguished  public  men  of 
the  country  paid  him  compliments  which  evinced  the  highest 
appreciation  of  his  public  services.  John  Quincy  Adams,  for 
example,  in  a  speech  to  his  constituents  delivered  in  the  autumn 
of  1842,  took  occasion  to  say  of  Mr.  Fillmore  that  "  he  was 
one  of  the  ablest,  most  faithful,  and  fairest-minded  men  with 
whom  it  had  been  his  lot  to  serve  in  public  life." 

Since  we  have  mentioned  Mr.  Adams,  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  remark  that  in  the  summer  of  1843,  the  veteran 
statesman  made  a  tour  to  the  West,  and,  among  other  places, 
visited  Buffalo,  where  the  citizens  gave  him  a  public  reception. 
Mr.  Fillmore,  whose  congressional  career  had  closed,  and  who 
was  residing  at  home  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  was  ap 
pointed  to  welcome  him,  which  he  did  in  the  following  neat 
and  felicitous  speech : 

"  SIR  :  I  have  been  deputed  by  the  citizens  of  this  place  to 
tender  you  a  welcome  to  our  city.  In  the  discharge  of  this 
grateful  duty,  I  feel  that  I  speak  not  only  my  own  sentiments, 
but  theirs,  when  I  tell  you  that  your  long  and  arduous  public 
services  —  your  lofty  independence  —  your  punctilious  atten 
tion  to  business,  and,  more  than  all,  your  unsullied  and  unsus 
pected  integrity,  have  given  you  a  character  in  the  estimation 
of  this  republic,  which  calls  forth  the  deepest  feelings  of  ven 
eration  and  respect. 

"  You  see  around  you,  sir,  no  political  partisans  seeking  to 
promote  some  sinister  purpose;  but  you  see  here  assembled 
the  people  of  our  infant  city,  without  distinction  of  party,  sex, 
age  or  condition  —  all  —  all  anxiously  vying  with  each  other 
to  show  their  respect  and  esteem  for  your  public  services  and 
private  worth. 

"  Here,  sir,  are  gathered  in  this  vast  multitude  of  what  must 
appear  to  you  strange  faces,  thousands  whose  hearts  have 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS.  77 

vibrated  to  the  chord  of  sympathy  which  your  written  speeches 
have  touched.  Here  is  reflecting  age,  and  ardent  youth, 
and  lisping  childhood,  to  all  of  whom  your  venerated  name 
is  as  familiar  as  household  words  —  all  anxious  to  feast  their 
eyes  by  a  sight  of  that  extraordinary  and  venerable  man  of 
whom  they  have  heard  and  read  and  thought  so  much — all 
anxious  to  hear  the  voice  of  that  'old  man  eloquent?  on  whose 
lips  wisdom  has  distilled  her  choicest  nectar  —  here,  sir,  you 
see  them  all,  and  read  in  their  eager  and  joy-gladdened  counte 
nances  and  brightly  beaming  eyes,  a  welcome  —  a  thrice-told, 
heart-felt,  and  soul-stirring  welcome  to  '  the  man  whom  they 
delight  to  honor.' " 

Mr.  Adams  made  a  long  and  eloquent  reply,  from  which  we 
extract  the  paragraphs  relating  to  Mr.  Fillmore : 

"  MR.  FILLMORE,  MR.  MAYOR  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  I  must 
ask  your  indulgence  for  a  moment's  pause  to  take  breath.  If 
you  ask  me  why  I  ask  this  indulgence,  it  is  because  I  am  so 
overpowered  by  the  eloquence  of  my  friend  the  chairman  of 
the  committee  of  ways  and  means,  whom  I  have  so  long  been 
accustomed  to  refer  to  in  that  capacity,  that,  with  your  permis 
sion,  I  will  continue  so  to  denominate  him  now,  that  I  have  no 
words  left  to  answer  him.  For  so  liberal  has  he  been  in  be 
stowing  that  eloquence  upon  me,  which  he  himself  possesses 
in  so  eminent  a  degree  that,  while  he  was  ascribing  to  me 
talents  so  far  above  my  own  consciousness  in  that  regard,  I 
was  all  the  time  imploring  the  god  of  eloquence  to  give  me,  at 
least  a<^  this  moment,  a  few  words  to  justify  him  before  you  in 
making  that  splendid  panegyric  which  he  has  been  pleased  to 
bestow  upon  me;  and  that  the  flattering  picture  which  he  has 
presented  to  you,  may  not  immediately  be  defaced  before  your 
eyes  by  what  you  should  hear  from  me." 

********* 

"  I  congratulate  you  again  upon  your  possession  of  another 
dear  and  intimate  friend  of  mine,  in  the  person  of  the  gentle 
man  who  has  just  addressed  me  in  your  name,  and  whom  I 
have  taken  the  liberty  of  addressing  as  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee  of  ways  and  means  —  the  capacity  in  which  he  has 
rendered  so  recently  services  of  the  highest  importance  to 


78  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAKD   FILLMORE. 

you  bis  constituents,  by  whose  favor  he  was  enabled  to  render 
them  —  to  us,  and  our  common  country.  And  I  can  not  for 
bear  to  express  here  my  regret  at  his  retirement  in  the  pres 
ent  emergency  from  the  councils  of  the  nation.  There,  or 
elsewhere,  I  hope  and  trust  he  will  soon  return ;  for  whether 
to  the  nation  or  to  the  State,  no  service  can  be,  or  ever  will  be 
rendered  by  a  more  able  or  a  more  faithful  public  servant." 

After  his  withdrawal  from  Congress,  Mr.  Fillmore  continued 
to  reside  in  Buffalo,  and  was  very  much  devoted  to  his  profes 
sion.  A  large  and  lucrative  practice  in  the  higher  courts  gave 
him  constant,  and  to  a  person  of  his  laborious  habits  and  love 
of  business,  pleasant  occupation.  In  this  manner  he  passed 
four  or  five  years,  enjoying  the  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens  and 
laying  the  foundations  of  a  competency  which  has  enabled  him 
to  live  with  the  dignity  befitting  his  position,  (although  with 
the  simplicity  which  accords  with  his  republican  tastes,)  since 
his  retirement  from  the  highest  office  in  the  country. 


OPENING    OF   THE    CAMPAIGN.  79 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    PRESIDENTIAL    CAMPAIGN    OF    1844. 

Mr.  Fillmore's  last  congressional  terra  expired  in  March, 
1843.  During  the  following  summer  his  name  was  mentioned 
in  connection  with  the  Vice-presidency,  and  his  claims  as  a 
candidate  were  urged  with  much  enthusiasm  by  a  large  num 
ber  of  the  most  respectable  Whig  presses.  By  the  spon 
taneous  and  universal  sentiment  of  the  Whig  party,  it  had 
been  settled,  for  a  long  period  in  advance  of  the  national  con 
vention,  that  Henry  Clay  would  be  the  candidate  for  the  first 
office.  This  eloquent  and  patriotic  statesman  was  no  doubt 
the  private  choice  of  a  majority  of  his  party  in  1840;  but  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  beaten,  in  1832,  by  General  Jackson, 
on  the  bank  issue,  rendered  it  inexpedient,  both  in  his  own 
estimation  and  that  of  his  friends,  that  he  should  be  again 
brought  forward  until  the  prospects  should  preponderate 
pretty  strongly  in  favor  of  his  success.  Many  of  his  friends 
supposed  this  time  had  arrived  in  184Q,  and  felt  great  dis 
satisfaction  when  they  were  over-ruled  by  the  majority  of 
the  convention,  who  were  of  the  opinion  that  General  Har 
rison  was  a  more  available  candidate.  No  man  in  the  United 
States  had  so  many  personal  friends  as  Mr.  Clay,  and  his 
vigorous  opposition  to  the  administration  of  John  Tyler,  re 
moved  all  doubt  of  his  availability  in  1844 — there  never  having 
been  any  of  his  pre-eminent  fitness. 

The  Whigs  of  New  York,  proud  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  talents 
and  standing,  desired  to  see  his  name  on  the  same  ticket  with 
Mr.  Clay's,  and  determined  to  present  it  to  the  national 


80  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

convention.  In  October,  1843,  the  editor  of  the  New  York 
Tribune  made  the  following  expression  of  opinion:  "I  have 
just  returned  from  a  four  weeks  ramble  at  the  West,  and  have 
some  comments  to  make  in  due  season,  on  events  and  occur 
rences  in  my  absence.  For  the  present,  however,  I  must  bo 
content  with  a  remark  on  a  single  point — the  Vice-presidency. 
While  I  believe  the  selection  of  the  Whig  candidate  should  be 
left,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  to  the  unbiassed  and  unembarrassed 
choice  of  a  national  convention,  and,  therefore,  do  not  care  to 
engage  in  any  newspaper  discussion  on  the  subject,  I  shall 
avoid  misapprehension  by  stating  that  my  own  first  choice  has 
long  been  Millard  Fillmore."  This  preference  was  fully 
shared  by  the  Whigs  of  New  York. 

The  Whig  national  convention  met  at  Baltimore  on  the  first 
of  May,  1844.  Hon.  Ambrose  Spencer,  of  New  York,  was 
chosen  president,  and  twenty-six  vice-presidents  and  six  secre 
taries  were  appointed.  As  soon  as  the  organization  was  com 
pleted,  Henry  Clay  was  nominated  by  acclamation,  as  the 
Whig  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  The  convention  merely 
ratified  a  nomination  that  had  been  previously  settled  by  the 
people. 

Respecting  the  candidate  for  Vice-president,  there  was  con 
siderable  difference  of  opinion,  and  a  choice  was  not  effected 
until  the  convention  had  balloted  three  times.  John  Davis, 
of  Massachusetts,  was  supported  by  the  delegates  from  the 
Eastern  States;  Mr.  Fillmore  by  those  from  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  some  of  the  Western  States;  Theodore  Frelinghuy- 
sen  by  those  from  New  Jersey,  and  other  States.  On  the 
third  ballot,  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  received  a  majority  of  the 
votes,  and  was  declared  nominated. 

The  author  of  the  "  Life  and  Times  of  Silas  Wright,"  al 
though  a  Democrat,  in  describing  the  proceedings  of  this 
convention,  speaks  of  the  Whig  candidates  for  Vice-president 
in  the  following  handsome  terms: 


CANDIDATE   FOR   GOVERNOR.  81 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  a  great  number,  and  we  believe  a 
majority  of  the  men  who  have  most  attracted  public  attention 
and  most  influenced  public  opinion  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  indeed  in  several  of  the  other  States,  are  self-made  men, 
who  have  risen  to  distinction  by  their  personal  merit  and  their 
own  individual  efforts,  without  the  aid  of  wealth  or  influential 
connections.  This  is  eminently  the  case  with  Mr.  Fillmore. 
We  believe  he  did  not  come  to  the  bar  very  early  in  life.  At 
any  rate,  before  he  had  practiced  law  a  sufficient  length  of  time 
to  distinguish  himself  in  his  profession,  he  was  elected  to  the 
Assembly  of  this  State  from  the  county  of  Erie.  He  had  not 
been  long  in  public  life  when  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
Congress  from  the  district  that  included  the  county  in  which 
he  resided.  In  Congress,  by  his  industry,  talents,  and  great 
moderation  and  prudence,  he  soon  acquired  a  powerful  and 
commanding  influence;  and  during  the  last  Congress,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  of  ways 
and  means,  a  position  the  most  honorable  and  responsible  of 
any  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  that  situation  he 
discharged  so  well  and  so  ably  his  duties,  that  when  he  left 
that  body,  perhaps  no  member  of  it  held  a  higher  standing  in 
the  house  or  the  nation  than  he.  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  however, 
had  been  a  senator  of  the  United  States;  he  was  the  favorite 
of  the  Whigs  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  party  were  desirous  of 
strengthening  themselves  in  that  State;  besides,  he  was  a  man 
of  respectable  talents,  great  erudition,  and  highly  distinguished 
for  purity  of  character,  for  piety,  and  all  the  private  and  social 
virtues." 

As  soon  as  the  result  of  the  national  convention  became 
known,  there  was  a  general  expression  of  opinion  among  the 
Whigs  of  New  York,  in  favor  of  making  Mr.  Fillmore  their 
candidate  for  Governor.  It  was  contrary  to  his  wishes  to  run 
for  that  office,  and  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the 
Albany  Evening  Journal,  assigning  the  reasons  why  he  did 
not  wish  his  name  to  be  used.  We  copy  his  letter. 


YORK,  May  16th,  1844. 
"THURLOW  WEED,  ESQ.  —  My  Dear  Sir  —  Being  here  in  at 
tendance  upon  the  Supreme   Court,  my   attention  has  been 


82  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

called  to  an  article  in  your  paper  of  the  8th  instant,  and  to 
some  extracts  from  other  journals  in  yours  since  that  time,  in 
which  my  name  is  mentioned  as  a  candidate  for  nomination  to 
the  gubernatorial  office  in  this  State.  You  do  me  the  justice  to 
say  that  '  I  have  never  desired  the  office  of  Governor,  though 
I  admit  the  right  of  the  people  to  the  services  of  a  public  man 
in  any  station  they  may  think  proper  to  assign  him.'  My 
maxim  has  always  been  that  individuals  have  no  claim  upon 
the  public  for  official  favors,  but  that  the  public  has  a  right  to 
the  service  of  any  and  all  of  its  citizens.  This  right  of  the 
public,  however,  must  in  some  measure  be  qualified  by  the 
titness  and  ability  of  the  person  whose  services  may  be  de 
manded  for  the  station  designed,  and  the  propriety  of  his  ac 
cepting  the  trust  can  only  be  properly  determined  when  all 
his  relations,  social  and  political,  are  taken  into  the  account. 
Of  the  former,  I  am  ready  to  concede  that  the  public  must  be 
the  proper  and  only  judge.  In  regard  to  the  latter,  the  indi 
vidual  himself  has  a  right  to  be  consulted.  These  notices  of 
the  public  press  are  from  such  sources,  and  so  flattering,  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  either  of  the  sincerity  or  friendship  of  the 
authors.  And  the  office  itself,  in  my  estimation,  is  second  in 
point  of  dignity,  honor  and  responsibility  only  to  that  of 
President  of  the  United  States.  When  we  reflect  that  it  has 
been  held  by  a  Jay,  a  Tompkins,  and  a  Clinton,  who  in  the 
discharge  of  its  various  and  responsible  duties  acquired  a  fame 
that  has  connected  them  with  the  history  of  our  country,  and 
rendered  their  names  immortal,  all  must  agree  that  its  honors 
are  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  most  lofty  ambition.  For  myself  I 
can  truly  say  that  they  are  more  than  I  ever  aspired  to. 

"Believing,  as  I  now  do,  that  whoever  shall  receive  the 
nomination  of  the  Whig  convention  for  that  distinguished 
station,  will  be  elected,  it  is  not  from  any  apprehension  of 
defeat  that  I  am  disposed  to  decline  its  honors.  But  for 
reasons  partly  of  a  public,  and  partly  of  a  private  character,  I 
have  invariably  expressed  an  unwillingness  to  become  a  candi 
date  for  that  nomination.  This  has  been  long  known  to  most 
of  my  intimate  friends,  and  to  few  better  than  to  yourself.  But 
a  sense  of  delicacy,  which  all  must  appreciate,  rendered  me 
reluctant  to  make  a  more  public  declaration  of  my  wishes  on 
this  subject  at  this  time.  It  also  occurred  to  me  that  sonic. 
individuals,  acting  under  a  mistaken  sense  of  my  real  motives, 


LETTER    TO    THURLOW    WEED.  83 

might  be  led  to  reproach  me  with  being  influenced  in  my 
course  in  this  matter  by  the  results  of  the  Baltimore  conven 
tion.  But  when  I  saw  from  the  public  journals  that  many  of 
my  friends  were  committing  themselves  on  this  subject,  and 
reflecting  that  no  man-  from  any  apprehension  of  subjecting 
himself  to  unmerited  censure,  had  a  right  to  shrink  from  the 
performance  of  any  duty,  i  felt  that  the  candor  and  frankness 
due  to  my  political  friends  would  not  suffer  me  longer  to  per 
mit  them  to  remain  in  doubt  as  to  my  wishes  on  this  subject. 

"Permit  me  then  to  say  that  I  do  not  desire  to  be  con 
sidered  as  a  candidate  for  that  office.  So  far  as  my  reasons 
for  this  determination  are  founded  upon  private  considerations, 
it  would  be  alike  indelicate  and  obtrusive  to  present  them  to 
the  public.  But  if  these  could  be  removed  or  overcome,  there 
are  others  of  a  more  public  character  that  should,  it  appears 
to  me,  be  equally  conclusive. 

"In  the  first  place,  1  greatly  distrust  my  own  ability  to 
discharge  the  varied  and  complicated  duties  of  that  high  sta 
tion  in  a  manner -either  creditable  to  myself  or  satisfactory  to 
the  public.  For  the  last  twelve  years  my  attention  has  been 
mostly  withdrawn  from  questions  affecting  State  policy,  and 
directed  to  national  affairs.  My  chief  experience  in  public 
matters  has  been  in  the  national  councils,  and  to  my  labors 
there  I  am  mainly  indebted  for  whatever  reputation  I  may 
enjoy  as  a  public  man.  It  appears  to  me  that  the  present 
peculiarly  trying  emergencies  in  the  great  interests  of  the 
State  require  a  man  for  the  executive  chair  of  eminent 
ability,  long  tried  experience,  and  a  greater  share  of  public 
confidence  than  I  can  hope  to  possess.  I  can  not  but  feel 
that  many  who  have  been  mentioned  are  more  deserving  of 
that  honor,  and  better  able  to  discharge  those  high  trusts, 
than  myself.  I  recognize  in  each  "an  elder  and  a  better 
soldier." 

"  But  secondly,  it  is  known  to  all  that  I  have  recently  been 
a  candidate  for  nomination  to  the  Vice-presidency.  I  had 
previously  considered  my  political  .career  as  ended  for  the 
present,  if  not  closed  forever.  Never  at  all  sanguine  of  suc 
cess,  I  yielded  a  reluctant  assent  to  the  presentation  of  my 
name  for  that  office.  Grateful  as  I  am,  and  ever  shall  be-, 
for  the  generous  devotion  of  my  friends,  I  felt  no  disappoint 
ment  in  the  result,  and  unite  most  cordially  with  my  Whig 


84  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 

bretliren  in  sustaining  the  excellent  nominations  of  that  con 
vention.  But  a  candidate  is  now  to  be  selected  from  the  Whig- 
party  of  this  State  for  the  gubernatorial  office.  Such  person 
must  be  taken  from  among  my  political  associates,  and  I  feel 
that  I  owe  too  much  to  them  to  suffer  my  name  to  come  in 
competition  with  theirs  for  this  distinguished  honor.  To  per 
mit  it  would  wear  the  semblance  of  ingratitude,  or  an  over 
weening  ambition  for  political  preferment.  1  know  that  I  feel 
neither,  and  I  can  perceive  no  reason  why  I  should  subject 
myself  to  the  imputation.  This  alone,  if  there  were  no  other 
reasons,  would  be  to  my  mind  an  insuperable  objection. 

"  But,  nevertheless,  while  I  thus  decline  to  be  considered  a 
candidate  for  nomination,  it  is  due  to  myself  to  express  the 
grateful  emotions  of  my  heart  to  those  friends  who  have  so 
kindly  intimated  a  preference  for  me  for  that  office.  It  implies 
a  confidence  on  their  part  which  it  has  been  the  height  of  my 
ambition  to  acquire ;  and  I  shall  cherish  the  recollection  of  it 
through  life.  Believe  me,  also,  when  I  say  that  I  am  not 
insensible  to  the  deep  obligations  which  I  am  under  to  the 
people  of  this,  my  native  State;  and  more  especially  to  those 
in  the  western  part  of  it,  who  have  sustained  me  with  such 
generous  devotion  and  unwavering  fidelity  through  many 
years  of  arduous  public  service.  They  could  not  call  upon 
me  for  any  sacrifice,  merely  personal  to  myself,  that  I  should 
not  feel  bound  to  make.  1  owe  them  a  debt  of  gratitude 
which  I  never  expect  to  be  able  to  discharge.  But  the  Whig- 
party  of  this  State  now  presents  an  array  of  talent  and  of  well 
tried  political  and  moral  integrity  not  excelled  by  that  of  any 
other  State  in  the  Union.  From  this  distinguished  host  it 
can  not  be  difficult  to  select  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  office 
of  Governor — one  who  is  capable,  faithful,  true  to  the  cause 
and  the  country,  and  who  will  call  out  the  enthusiastic  support 
of  the  whole  Whig  party.  To  such  a  candidate  I  pledge  in 
advance  my  most  hearty  and  zealous  support.  Let  us  add 
his  name  to  those  of  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen,  and  our  success 
is  certain. 

"But  while  I  thus  withdraw  from  competition  for  the  honors, 
be  assured  that  I  do  not  shrink  from  the  labors  or  responsi 
bilities  of  this  great  contest.  We  have  a  work  to  perform  in 
this  State  which  calls  for  the  united  effort  and  untiling  exer 
tion  of  every  true  Whig.  Here  the  great  battle  is  to  be 


CANDIDATE   FOR   GOVERNOR.  85 

fought.  For  myself  I  am  enlisted  for  the  war.  Wherever  I 
can  be  of  most  service,  there  I  am  willing  to  go ;  I  seek  no  dis 
tinction  but  such  as  may  be  acquired  by  a  faithful  laborer  in 
a  good  cause.  I  ask  no  reward  but  such  as  results  to  all  from 
a  good  government  well  administered;  and  I  desire  no  higher 
gratification  than  to  witness  the  well  merited  honors  with 
which  victory  will  crown  my  numerous  Whig  friends. 
"  1  am  truly  yours, 

"  MlLLARD    FlLLMORE." 


Whatever  force  there  may  have  been  in  the  reasons  assigned 
in  this  letter,  the  current  of  Whig  feeling  was  running  too 
strongly  in  favor  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  nomination  for  Governor,  to 
be  arrested  by  any  expression  of  his  wishes.  Whatever  might 
be  the  merits  of  other  distinguished  Whigs,  the  party  was 
united  on  him,  and  the  movement  was  so  spontaneous,  that  it 
was  feared  an  attempt  to  make  any  other  nomination  would 
distract  and  embarrass  the  party.  The  unanimous  voice  of 
the  Whig  press  insisted  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Mr.  Fillmore 
to  yield  his  private  inclinations,  and  of  the  party  to  nominate 
him  with  the  same  unanimity  they  would  have  done  had  he 
not  publicly  declined  the  honor. 

The  Whig  State  convention  met  on  the  eleventh  of  Sep 
tember,  and  Hon.  Francis  Granger,  formerly  Postmaster 
General,  was  chosen  president.  As  soon  as  the  organization 
was  completed,  a  delegate  from  Onondaga  county,  after  a  few 
prefatory  remarks,  moved  a  resolution  declaring  Millard  Fill- 
more  unanimously  nominated  as  the  Whig  candidate  for 
Governor.  The  president  having  put  the  question,  the  reso 
lution  was  carried  by  acclamation,  the  convention  and  spec 
tators  rising  in  a  body  and  giving  nine  enthusiastic  cheers. 
Thus  the  Whigs  of  New  York,  too  impatient  to  testify  their 
confidence  in  the  man  of  their  choice  to  await  the  formality  of 
a  ballot,  promptly  made  him  their  candidate  with  an  enthusiasm 
so  spontaneous,  a  zeal  so  irrepressible,  as  to  compel  his 


86  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMOEE. 

acceptance  of  the  nomination.     We  copy  two  of  the  resolu 
tions  which  were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  convention : 

"Resolved,  That  we  announce  to  the  people  of  this  great 
commonwealth,  with  peculiar  and  triumphant  satisfaction,  the 
name  of  our  candidate  for  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  State — 
a  nomination  which  we  were  called  together  not  to  suggest 
but  to  declare,  as  the  previously  expressed  will  of  the  people — 
a  nomination  which  we  have  therefore  made  unanimously 
without  a  moment's  delay,  and  without  a  thought  of  dissent — 
and  that  we  rejoice  in  the  opportunity  thus  to  show  a  grateful 
people's  high  appreciation  of  the  modest  worth,  the  manly  public 
virtue,  the  spotless  integrity  and  unchangeable  fidelity  of  that 
eminent  champion  of  Whig  principles,  the  dauntless  vindicator 
of  the  outraged  popular  suffrage  in  the  case  of  the  insulted 
'BROAD  SEAL'  of  New  Jersey  in  1840,  the  valiant  and  victori 
ous  leader  of  the  patriotic  Whigs  of  the  immortal  twenty- 
seventh  Congress  in  their  long  and  trying  warfare  against 
corruption  and  despotism,  the  laborious  author  and  eloquent 
defender  of  the  Wmo  TARIFF — MILLARD  FILLMORE. 

"Resolved,  That  in  him,  known  to  the  people  by  long  and 
faithful  service  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State  and  nation, 
we  rejoice  to  present  a  true  and  worthy  representative  of 
Democratic  Republican  principles,  born  in  the  forest  of  the 
noble  western  region  of  our  own  State,  trained  among  an 
industrious  kindred  to  hardy  toil  and  manual  labor  on  the 
farm  and  in  the  manufactory — democratic  in  all  his  associations 
and  sympathies — called  early  into  honorable  public  service, 
and  promoted  to  an  unsought  distinction  by  an  intelligent  con 
stituency,  who  learned  his  capacity  by  experience — free  from 
the  degrading  and  contaminating  association  of  partisan  man 
agers  and  '  spoilers' — one  who  never  sought  to  rob  the  people 
of  the  right  to  choose  their  own  rulers,  but  ever  distinguished 
himself  in  contending  for  popular  rights  and  constitutional 
liberty,  and  in  securing  to  the  American  laborer  his  labor's 
just  and  high  reward." 

It  is  a  well  known  matter  of  history,  that  in  the  presidential 
campaign  of  1844,  the  Whig  party  were  disastrously  beaten. 
They  had  entered  the  canvass  with  high  and  confident  hopes 


LETTER    TO    MR.    CLAY.  ,  87 

of  success,  and  deep  and  bitter  was  their  disappointment,  when 
they  found  that  Henry  Clay,  their  great  and  cherished  leader, 
was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  sixty -six  electoral  votes.  Mr. 
Fillmore,  of  course,  shared  the  defeat  of  his  party.  Person 
ally,  his  failure  to  be  elected  Governor  of  New  York  was  a 
relief,  for  he  had  not  wanted  the  office.  But  he  felt,  with  the 
whole  Whig  party,  the  sorest  disappointment  and  chagrin  that 
the  most  illustrious  statesman  in  the  country  should  have  been 
vanquished  in  a  contest  before  the  people,  by  a  man  of  the 
moderate  pretensions  of  his  Democratic  competitor.  Under  the 
influence  of  these  feelings,  Mr.  Fillmore  wrote  the  following^ 
letter  to  Mr.  Clay,  in  which  he  justly  attributed  his  defeat  in 
the  State  of  New  York  to  the  Abolitionists  and  foreign 
Catholics : 

BUFFALO,  November  llth,  1844.- 

"Mr  DEAR  SIR:  I  have  thought  for  three  or  four  days  that 
I  would  write  you,  but  really  I  am  unmanned.  I  have  no 
courage  or  resolution.  All  is  gone.  The  last  hope,  which 
hung  first  upon  the  city  of  New  York  and  then  upon  Virginia, 
is  finally  dissipated,  and  I  see  nothing  but  despair  depicted  on 
every  countenance. 

"  For  myself  I  have  no  regrets.  I  was  nominated  much 
against  my  will,  and  though  not  insensible  to  the  pride  of  suc 
cess,  yet  I  feel  a  kind  of  relief  at  being  defeated.  But  not  so 
for  you  or  for  the  nation.  Every  consideration  of  justice,  every 
feeling  of  gratitude  conspired  in  the  minds  of  honest  men  to 
insure  your  election;  and  though  always  doubtful  of  my  own 
success,  I  could  never  doubt  yours,  till  the  painful  conviction 
was  forced  upon  me. 

"  The  Abolitionists  and  foreign  Catholics  have  defeated  us 
in  this  State.  I  will  not  trust  myself  to  speak  of  the  vile  hy 
pocrisy  of  the  leading  Abolitionists  now.  Doubtless  many 
acted  honestly  but  ignorantly  in  what  they  did.  But  it  is  clear 
that  Birney  and  his  associates  sold  themselves  to  Locofocoism, 
and  they  will  doubtless  receive  their  reward. 

"  Our  opponents,  by  pointing  to  the  Native  Americans  and 
to  Mr.  Frelinghuyscn,  drove  the  foreign  Catholics  from  us  and 
defeated  us  in  this  State. 


88  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

"  But  it  is  vain  to  look  at  the  causes  by  which  this  infamous 
result  has  been  produced.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  all  is  gone, 
and  I  must  confess  that  nothing  has  happened  to  shake  my 
confidence  in  our  ability  to  sustain  a  free  government  so  much 
as  this.  If  with  such  issues  and  such  candidates  as  the  na 
tional  contest  presented,  we  can  be  beaten,  what  may  we  not 
expect?  A  cloud  of  gloom  hangs  over  the  future.  May  God 
save  the  country ;  for  it  is  evident  the  people  will  not." 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  not  alone  in  supposing  that  its  foreign 
population  had  deprived  the  country  of  the  services  of  a  states 
man  pre-eminently  fitted  for  its  highest  office,  whose  elevation 
to  the  presidency  would  have  been  a  matter  of  just  national 
pride.  To  show  how  widely  this  impression  prevailed  among 
intelligent  men,  we  make  the  following  quotations  from  some 
of  the  numerous  letters  addressed  to  Mr.  Clay  after  the  result 
of  the  election  became  known. 

The  venerable  Ambrose  Spencer,  formerly  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York,  wrote  to  Mr. 
Clay  as  follows,  under  the  date  of  Albany,  Nov.  21st,  1844: 

"You  will  perceive  that  the  Abolition  vote  lost  you  the 
election,  as  three-fourths  of  them  were  firm  \Yhigs,  converted 
into  Abolitionists.  The  foreign  vote  also  destroyed  your  elec 
tion,  and  there  was  yet  another  distinct  cause.  *  *  *  * 
This  untoward  event  has  produced  universal  gloom,  and  has 
shaken  public  confidence  to  an  unexpected  extent.  Even 
many  of  those  who  voted  for  Polk,  now  that  he  is  elected, 
deeply  regret  the  result.  God  only  knows  to  what  we  are 
destined.  One  sentiment  seems  to  prevail  universally,  that 
the  naturalization  laws  must  be  .altered ;  that  they  must  be  re 
pealed,  and  the  door  forever  shut  on  the  admission  of  foreigners 
to  citizenship,  or  that  they  undergo  a  long  probation.  I  am 
for  the  former.  • 

"  The  Germans  and  the  Irish  are  in  the  same  category ;  the 
one  who  know  not  our  language,  and  are  as  ignorant  as  the 
lazzaroni  of  Italy,  can  never  understandingly  exercise  the  fran 
chise;  and  the  other,  besides  their  ignorance,  are  naturally 
inclined  to  go  with  the  loafers  of  our  own  population." 


FOREIGN    POLITICAL    INFLUENCE.  89 

Philip  Hone,  -of  New  York  city,  under  date  of  Nov.  28th, 
1844,  writes: 

"  But  the  especial  object  of  my  writing  is  to  remove  any 
unfavorable  impressions  (if  such  there  be)  from  your  mind  as 
to  the  miserable  result  here.  The  loss  of  New  York  was  fatal 
to  the  cause  of  the  Whigs,  but  I  pray  you,  dear  sir,  to  attri 
bute  no  part  of  this  misfortune  to  a  want  of  exertion  on  the 
part  of  your  friends  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Never  before 
did  they  work  so  faithfully,  and  never,  I  fear,  will  they  again; 
the  man  and  the  cause  were  equally  dear  to  the  noble  Whigs, 
and  every  honorable  exertion  was  made,  every  personal  sacri 
fice  submitted  to,  every  liberal  oblation  poured  upon  the  altar 
of  patriotic  devotion;  nine-tenths  of  our  respectable  citizens 
voted  for  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen — the  merchants,  the  profes 
sional  men,  the  mechanics  and  working  men,  all  such  as  live  by 
their  skill  and  the  labor  of  their  honest  hands,  who  have  wives 
whom  they  cherish  and  children  whom  they  strive  to  educate 
and  make  good  citizens — men  who  go  to  church  on  Sundays, 
respect  the  laws  and  love .  their  country — such  men,  to  the 
number  of  twenty-six  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-five, 
redeemed  their  pledge  to  God  and  the  country;  but  alas! 
the  numerical  strength  lies  not  in  those  classes.  Foreigners 
who  have  'no  lot  or  inheritance'  in  the  matter,  have  robbed  us 
of  our  birth-right,  the  '  scepter  has  departed  from  Israel.'  Ire 
land  has  re-conquered  the  country  which  England  lost,  but 
never  suffer  yourself  to  believe  that  a  single  trace  of  the  name 
of  Henry  Clay  is  obliterated  from  the  swelling  hearts  of  the 
Whigs  of  New  York." 

The  following  is  extracted  from  a  letter  to  Mr.  Clay,  written 
by  John  H.  Westwood,  dated  Baltimore,  Nov.  28th,  1844: 

"  I  well  recollect  in  the  family  circle,  while  a  boy,  sitting 
around  the  domestic  hearth,  hearing  my  father  recount  your 
patriotic  deeds.  One  sentence  from  a  speech  of  yours,  '  The 
colors  that  float  from  the  mast-head  should  be  the  credentials 
of  our  seamen,'  was  indelibly  fixed  on  my  mind.  Then  judge 
my  deep  mortification  and  disappointment  to  find  the  sailors' 
friend,  the  master-spirit  of  the  late  war,  'the  noblest  Roman 
of  them  all,'  rejected  by  the  American  people,  and  such  a  man 


90  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLAKD    FILLMORE. 

as  James  K.  Polk  placed  in  the  presidential  chair.  Did  I  say 
American  people?  I  recall  that  expression,  for  two  thirds  of 
the  native  freemen  of  the  United  States  are  your  fast  friends. 
"It  was  foreign  influence  aided  by  the  Irish  and  Dutch  vote 
that  caused  our  defeat.  As  a  proof,  in  my  native  city  alone, 
in  the  short  space  of  two  months  there  were  over  one  thousand 
naturalized.  Out  of  this  number  nine-tenths  voted  the  Loco- 
foco  ticket.  Thus  men  who  could  not  speak  our  language  were 
made  citizens  and  became  politicians  too,  who  at  the  polls  were 
the  noisy  revilers  of  your  fair  fame.  Thus  you  have  been  well 
rewarded  for  the  interest  you  ever  took  for  the  oppressed  of 
other  nations.  Notwithstanding  the  ingratitude  of  the  Irish 
and  German  voters,  if  the  Abolitionists  of  New  York  had  done 
their  duty,  all  would  have  been  well." 

Mr.  E.  Pettigru,  of  Magnolia,  North  Carolina,  wrote  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Clay  on  the  occasion  of  his  defeat,  from  which  the  fol 
lowing  is  an  extract : 

"But  on  this  subject  I  need  say  no  more.  It  is  all  plain  to 
you,  and  my  remarks  are  only  to  show  how  much  I  deplore 
the  failure  of  our  forefathers,  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution. 
But  one  word  on  the  subject  of  naturalization.  My  opinion 
has  been  for  forty  years  that  there  should  be  no  citizens  of  the 
United  States  except  those  born  within  its  limits.  Let  every 
foreigner  be  satisfied  to  enjoy  all  the  other  privileges  that  the 
State  in  which  they  chose  to  live  thought  proper  to  grant. 
Had  that  been  the  law,  we  should  not  now  be  like  men  in  a 
thunder  squall  waiting,  with  trembling  anxiety  for  the  next  clap." 

Mr.  C.  L.  L.  Leary,  of  Baltimore,  under  the  date  of  Nov. 
14th,  1844,  writes: 

"  I  console  myself,  too,  (and  to  you  it  must  be  a  source  of 
unfailing  gratulation,)  that  I  find  myself  arrayed  in  this  contest 
on  the  same  side  with  the  enlightened  intelligence,  virtue,  and 
patriotism  of  the  Union,  with  the  line  of  discrimination  so 
broadly  and  vividly  drawn,  that  'the  wayfaring  man,'  though 
a  fool  in  other  matters,  'need  not  err  therein.'  Whatever 
partial  triumphs  we  have  won,  have  been  achieved  bv  honest 
American  hearts,  and  with  unstained  American  hands;  no  levies 


RISE   OF   THE   AMERICAN    PARTY.  91 

have  been  made  upon  the  prisons  and  lazar-houses  of  Europe; 
no  Canadian  mercenaries  or  Hessian  auxiliaries  have  been 
either  pressed  or  purchased  into  our  service ;  you  are  the  only 
choice  of  the  great  American  party,  standing  upon  a  broad 
American  platform,  supported  and  dependent  upon  an  Ameri 
can  Constitution,  as  framed,  understood,  and  construed  by  the 
patriot  fathers  of  the  republic.  We  are  told  in  Holy  Writ 
that  'The  wicked  walk  on  every  side,  when  the  vilest  men  are 
exalted;'  and  in  this  humiliating  posture  we  now  find  American 
affairs.  The  very  fountain  of  our  political  system,  from  whence 
all  authority  and  power  flow,  is  revoltingly  corrupt.  The  bal 
lot-box  is  poisoned  by  gross  ignorance  and  wanton  perjury." 

Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  who  was  candidate  for  Vice-president  on 
the  same  ticket  with  Mr.  Clay,  says  to  him  in  a  letter  written 
from  New  York,  Nov.  llth,  1844: 

"  And  then  the  foreign  vote  was  tremendous.  More  than 
three  thousand,  it  is  confidently  said,  have  been  naturalized  in 
this  city  alone  since  the  first  of  October.  It  is  an  alarming 
fact,  that  this  foreign  vote  has  decided  the  great  questions  of 
American  policy,  and  counteracted  a  nation's  gratitude." 

We  have  'made  these  numerous  extracts  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  how  deep,  pervading  and  wide-spread  was  the  impres 
sion,  among  intelligent  men  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  in  1844, 
that  our  foreign  population  had  come  to  exert  a  very  undue 
influence  in  American  politics.  They  show  that  the  feeling  out 
of  which  the  present  American  party  has  sprung  is  no  hasty  im 
pulse,  no  sudden  freak,  no  transient  ebullition  of  passion,  but  a 
deeply  seated  conviction  of  the  American  mind,  which  has 
been  growing  and  gathering  strength  for  years.  As  it  has  not 
suddenly  sprung  up,  so  it  will  not  rapidly  disappear 

The  quotations  we  have  just  made  suggest  the  propriety  of 
our  giving,  in  this  connection,  a  slight  sketch  of  the  first  rise 
of  the  American  party  as  a  distinct  political  organization. 

In  the  year  1834,  Professor  Samuel  B.  Morse,  the  inventor 
of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph,  a  gentleman  whose  fame 


92  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

will  be  as  enduring  as  the  records  of  science, was  run  as  a  candi 
date  for  mayor  of  New  York  city,  by  a  party  which  had  just 
been  organized  for  the  purpose  of  withstanding  foreign  influ 
ence  in  our  elections.  He  received  nine  thousand  votes.  An 
address  had  previously  been  issued,  which  temperately  but 
ably  set  forth  the  dangers  which  threatened  our  institutions 
from  the  abuse  of  the  elective  franchise,  by  the  foreign  popula 
tion  of  the  country,  the  convenient  instruments  of  papal  priests 
and  native  demagogues.  The  truths  presented  in  this  address 
were  so  forcible  that  they  produced  a  powerful  impression,  led 
to  a  distinctive  American  organization,  and  the  nomination  of  a 
purely  American  ticket.  The  vote  polled  in  its  favor  seemed 
so  indicative  of  future  success,  that  it  excited  the  apprehen 
sions  of  the  old  parties,  whose  leaders  then  controlled  the  po 
litical  press.  They  opened  their  batteries  against  the  rising 
party,  and  by  the  power  of  the  press  and  the  efficiency  of  party 
discipline,  succeeded  in  repressing  temporarily  the  outward 
expression  of  a  sentiment  which,  though  it  might  be  checked, 
could  not  be  extinguished. 

The  mention  of  Professor  Morse  recalls  an  incident,  which 
as  it  connects  his  name  with  that  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  we  will 
briefly  relate : 

When  Professor  Morse  had  perfected  his  electric  telegraph 
and  secured  the  patent,  its  exhibition  in  Washington  excited 
much  attention.  Mr.  Fillmore,  then  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee  of  ways  and  means,  was  particularly  interested  in  the 
novel  and  extraordinary  machine,  and  after  making  up  the  de 
tails  of  the  annual  civil  appropriation  bill,  he  proposed  an 
amendment  appropriating  $30,000  for  the  construction  of  an 
electric  telegraph  from  Washington  to  Baltimore.  A  distin 
guished  member  of  the  House,  who  was  afterward  Post 
master  General,  violently  opposed  the  appropriation,  and,  in  the 
excitement  of  the  debate,  denounced  the  invention  as  a  worth 
less  humbug.  By  the  urgent  and  impressive  representations 


RISE    OF   THE   AMERICAN   PARTY.  93 

of  Mr.  Fillraore  the  amendment  was  carried,  when  the  gen 
tleman  referred  to,  as  a  mode  of  expressing  his  derision, 
rose  in  his  place  and  proposed  as  a  further  amendment,  an 
appropriation  of  sixty  thousand  dollars  to  carry  on  experiments 
in  animal  magnetism,  as  a  doubly  important  and  much  more  ra 
tional  object.  But  in  spite  of  sneers  and  jibes,  Mr.  Fillmore 
carried  his  point,  and  this  great  American  invention  was  ena 
bled  to  give  a  practical  demonstration  of  its  utility. 

Although  the  American  party  of  1834  did  not  maintain  its 
organization,  the  occurrences  of  subsequent  years  deepened  the 
conviction  of  its  necessity.  Not  only  did  the  same  corrupt  in 
fluences  which  it  had  tried  to  stem  continue  to  prevail  in  the  elec 
tions,  but  the  papal  hierarchy  seemed  to  have  made  a  conquest 
of  the  Governor  of  New  York.  In  1840,  Gov.  Seward  proposed 
to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  to  innovate  upon  its  school  sys 
tem,  by  setting  apart  a  portion  of  its  common  school  fund  for  the 
support  of  sectarian  schools,  under  the  control  of  the  Catholic 
church.  This  project,  warmly  advocated  by  Bishop  Hughes, 
was  again  obtruded  on  the  New  York  Legislature  by  Gov. 
Seward  in  1841,  and  pressed  with  all  the  arguments  that 
could  be  devised  in  its  favor  by  an  artful  and  ingenious  mind. 
Events  like  these,  combined  with  the  constantly  increasing  in 
solence  of  foreign  voters  and  office-seekers,  deepened  the  re 
pugnance  of  American  citizens,  and  led  to  a  revival  of  the 
American  party  as  -  a  distinct  political  organization.  The  for 
eign  residents  in  the  large  cities  had  not  only  become  numer 
ous,  but  they  exerted  a  large  influence  in  the  elections  in 
proportion  to  their  numbers.  They  held  the  balance  of  power 
between  the  two  old  parties,  and  were  conscious  that  they 
could  turn  the  scale  whichever  way  they  pleased.  Presuming 
on  their  strength,  they  demanded  and  received  a  large  share 
of  the  less  important  offices,  to  the  exclusion  of  native  born  cit 
izens.  The  services  for  which  they  were  thus  rewarded  con 
sisted  in  thronging  caucuses  and  primary  meetings,  and  so 


94  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

degrading  their  character  that  self-respecting  men  would  take 
no  part  in  managing  the  machinery  by  which  nominations 
were  controlled ;  and  in  hanging  about  the  polls  and  bullying 
quiet  native  citizens  who  went  to  deposit  their  votes. 

These  abuses  led  to  the  re-organization  of  the  American  party 
in  1843.  A  declaration  of  principles  was  published,  and  in  the 
city  of  New  York  a  full  municipal  ticket  was  nominated  which 
polled  a  very  considerable  vote.  Boston,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis, 
New  Orleans,  and  other  cities  followed  the  patriotic  example, 
and  each  of  them  elected  either  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the 
American  ticket.  In  the  municipal  election  in  New  York  city 
in  April,  1844,  the  Native  American  party  nominated  James 
Harper,  of  the  respectable  publishing  firm  of  Harper  &  Broth 
ers,  as  their  candidate  for  mayor,  and  elected  him  by  a  ma 
jority  of  between  four  and  five  thousand.  They  also  elected 
a  majority  of  the  aldermen  and  assistant  aldermen  of  the  city. 

The  American  feeling  which  gave  these  powerful  evidences 
of  its  strength  in  nearly  all  our  large  cities  in  1844,  was  again 
smothered,  as  it  had  been  ten  years  before.  True,  it  was  much 
deeper  and  more  general  than  it  had  been  in  1834,  but  be 
sides  the  discipline  of  political  parties  which  was  put  in  requi 
sition  to  crush  it,  it  encountered  obstacles  in  the  absorbing  top 
ics  which  then  engrossed  public  attention.  The  next  year  Texas 
was  annexed  to  the  United  States.  Then  followed  the  war 
with  Mexico,  large  acquisitions  of  new  territory,  the  discovery 
of  the  rich  gold  mines  of  California,  and  the  exciting  contro 
versies  consequent  on  the  application  of  that  rapidly  matured 
State  for  admission  into  the  federal  union.  But  no  sooner  had 
the  public  mind  time  to  settle  into  tranquillity  after  the  excite 
ment  which  attended  the  adoption  of  the  compromise  of  1850, 
than  American  sentiments  again  found  expression,  and  asserted 
their  power  as  they  had  never  done  before.  As,  in  1844, 
they  had  shown  themselves  much  more  powerful  than  in  1834, 
so,in  1P54,  all  preceding  exhibitions  of  American  feeling  seemed 


THE   AMERICAN    PARTY.  95 

but  as  the  drops  which  precede  a  copious  and  refreshing 
shower.  Although  by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise, 
the  country  has  been  afflicted  with  another  distracting  slavery 
agitation,  even  that  has  been  unable  to  arrest  or  materially  re 
tard  the  progress  of  Americanism,  and  however  the  movement 
may  be  obstructed  or  opposed,  it  will  triumph  over  all  obsta 
cles,  because  it  is  founded  in  the  deepest  feelings  of  millions  of 
patriotic  hearts. 


96        BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLARD  FILLMORE. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
ELECTED  COMPTROLLER    OF   NEW  YORK. 

In  the  fall  of  1847,  Mr.  Fillmorc  was  elected  Comptroller  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  entered  on  the  duties  of  the  office  on 
the  first  of  the  following  January.  This  office  is  one  of  great 
importance,  the  Comptroller  being  the  chief  financial  officer  of 
the  State,  and  entrusted  with  the  management  of  all  its  various 
funds.  These,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  are  numerous  and 
large,  some  half  dozen  distinct  and  separate  funds  being  enu 
merated,  and  their  condition  regularly  described,  in  the  annual 
reports  required  of  the  Comptroller.  To  say  nothing  of  the 
school  funds  which  amount  to  between  two  and  three  millions  of 
dollars,  or  the  United  States  deposit  fund,  amounting  to  between 
four  and  five  millions,  or  the  literature  fund,  or  the  trust  funds, 
the  magnificent  and  almost  gigantic  system  of  public  works 
which  are  the  property  of  the  State,  would  alone  require  that 
its  principal  financial  officer  should  be  a  man  of  great  business 
capacity,  experience  and  skill.  At  the  time  Mr.  Fillmore  held 
the  office,  in  addition  to  his  other  multifarious  duties,  the  Comp 
troller  was  superintendent  of  the  bank  department  in  the 
wealthiest  and  the  most  commercial  State  in  the  Union,  as  well 
as  a  leading  member  of  the  Canal  Board.  As  the  citizens  of 
other  States  have  probably  a  very  inadequate  conception  of  the 
importance  of  this  office,  and  the  high  order  of  ability  requisite 
for  the  successful  discharge  of  its  duties,  it  may  not  be  amiss 
to  copy  the  following  paragraphs  which  appealed  in  the  Albany 
Argus  the  year  previous  to  Mr.  Fillmorc's  election  as  Com])- 


COMPTROLLERSHIP    OF   NEW    YORK.  97 

trollef.     They  are  quoted  from  an  article  written  by  an  able 
and  highly  intelligent  correspondent  of  that  paper: 

"There  is  at  this  day  no  officer  of  the  State  whose  duties 
and  powers  are  so  diversified,  so  extensive,  and  so  complicated, 
as  those  of  the  Comptroller;  nor  is  there  any  who  is  placed  in 
a  more  commanding  position  for  exercising  a  political  influence. 
From  a  simple  auditor  of  accounts,  and  a  watch  upon  the  treas 
ury,  he  has  sprung  up  into  an  officer  of  the  first  eminence  in 
the  administration ;  supplanting  by  degrees  some  departments 
which  were  once  in  equal,  if  not  higher  regard,  as  auxiliaries 
and  advisers  of  the  executive  power.  He  is  the  one-man  of 
the  government.  He  is  not  simply  an  officer,  but  a  bundle 
of  officers.  There  is  hardly  a  branch  of  the  administration  of 
which  he  is  not  a  prominent  member ;  so  prominent,  in  some 
cases,  that  the  affairs  of  that  branch  can  not  be  conducted  with 
out  his  actual  presence,  although  personally  he  may  be  a  mi 
nority  of  those  having  it  in  charge.  He  is  the  chief  of  the 
finances;  the  superintendent  of  banks;  and  the  virtual  quo 
rum  of  the  commissioners  of  the  canal  fund,  with  all  the  power 
which  such  a  position  gives  him  in  the  Canal  Board.  While 
other  State  departments  have  no  more  than  maintained  their 
original  sphere  and  authority,  or  have  suffered  material  dimin 
ution,  particularly  of  influence,  the  office  of  Comptroller  has 
been  a  favorite  of  the  Legislature,  and  the  chief  object  of  its 
confidence,  entrusted  with  high  if  not  extraordinary  powers  of 
government.  An  examination  of  the  statutes  will  show  that 
every  year  adds  to  its  duties,  until  they  have  become,  by  contin 
ual  aggregation,  a  complicated  mass,  beyond  the  power  of 
performance  by  any  one  man,  and  almost  beyond  the  reach  of 
his  thorough  and  intelligent  supervision." 
******** 

"To  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  mass  of  duty  he  has  in 
charge,  it  is  necessary  not  only  to  survey  the  summary  contained 
in  the  revised  code  of  our  laws,  but  to  trace  out  the  statutes 
5 


98  EiOGRArny  OF  MILLARD  FILLMOEE. 

from  year  to  year ;  to  review  the  reports  of  his  office ;  and  to 
follow  him  and  his  numerous  assistants  in  the  actual  discharge 

O 

of  their  various  labors  in  the  financial,  banking,  and  tax  bu 
reaux  of  his  department.  But  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  de 
signed  brevity  of  these  papers  to  enter  into  the  details  which 
alone  can  convey  a  suitable  notion  of  the  magnitude  and  respon 
sibility  of  his  trust  and  influence.  As  the  department  is  now 
organized,  it  is  overgrown  and  cumbersome ;  and  to  perform 
with  thorough  intelligence  and  conscientiousness,  without  error 
or  delay,  all  its  requisite  offices  of  supervision  and  of  action, 
requires  the  sight  of  Argus,  with  his  hundred  eyes,  and  the 
activity  of  Briareus,  with  his  hundred  hands." 

Mr.  Fillmore's  talents  peculiarly  fitted,  him  for  the  able 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  office — duties  even  more  import 
ant  than  those  of  the  Governor  of  the  State,  and  more  compli 
cated  than  any  which  devolve  on  the  secretary  of  the  national 
treasury.  He  possesses  in  a  very  high  degree  the  combina 
tion  of  qualities  which  constitute  eminent  administrative  ability. 
A  native  cast  of  mind  which  prefers  business  to  show,  love  of 
labor,  fondness  for  method,  a  comprehensive  mental  grasp 
united  to  great  capacity  for  details,  energy,  inventiveness  —  these 
are  qualities  for  which  Mr.  Fillmore  is  distinguished,  and  which 
form  the  solid  basis  on  which  his  reputation  as  an  executive 
officer  has  been  reared.  In  mentioning  inventiveness  as  one 
of  his  mental  characteristics,  we  must  not  be  understood  to 
mean  that  light  play  of  fancy  which  supplies  imagery  to  the 
poet;  for  Mr.  Fillmore's  turn  of  thought  is  too  earnest  and 
manly  to  feel  much  pleasure  in  frivolous  ornaments.  He  is  a 
greater  master  of  the  figures  of  arithmetic  than  of  the  figures  of 
rhetoric ;  but  the  mathematician  may  be  original  as  well  as  the 
orator,  although  it  requires  more  skill  to  discern  and  appreciate 
the  originality  of  the  former  than  of  the  latter.  It  is  the 
business  of  the  statesman  to  deal  with  grave  and  important  in 
terests,  and  if  he  is  a  man  of  great  resources  he  shows  it  rather 


99 

by  proposing  wise  measures  which  will  abide  the  test  of  time, 
than  by  making  ingenious  speeches  that  die  with  the  breath 
that  utters  them.  When  Hamilton  devised  the  financial  sys 
tem  by  which  the  country  was  extricated  from  its  difficulties 
and  retrieved  its  ruined  credit,  he  was  as  much  entitled  to  the 
praise  of  originality  as  was  John  Randolph  in  any  of  those  ec 
centricities  of  thought  which  rendered  his  speeches  so  entertain 
ing.  The  kind  of  inventiveness  by  which  a  statesman  becomes 
fertile  in  resources,  is  not  that  which  kindles  into  brilliant 
coruscations  in  popular  oratory,  but  that  which  enables  him 
to  bring  to  great  exigencies  the  measures  best  adapted  to  meet 
them.  In  1842,  the  national  finances  were  in  a  most  deplor 
able  condition.  Millard  Fillmore  was  made  chairman  of  the 
committee  of  ways  and  means,  and  when  he  had  matured  his 
measures  of  relief,  credit  revived  and  the  country  entered  on  a 
new  career  of  prosperity.  In  1850,  sectional  controversies  ran 
so  high  as  to  imperil  the  existence  of  the  Union ;  Millard  Fill- 
more  became  President  of  the  United  States,  and  harmony  and 
tranquillity  were  perfectly  restored. 

These  remarks  in  relation  to  the  originality  of  Mr.  Fillmore's 
mind  have  been  suggested  by  his  report  as  Comptroller  of  New 
York.  The  merits  one  would  expect  to  find  in  such  a  docu 
ment  are  a  clear  exhibit  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  com 
monwealth  and  of  the  state  of  its  various  funds,  accompanied, 
perhaps,  by  suggestions  relative  to  their  management.  Not 
only  did  Mr.  Fillmore's  report  possess  these  merits  ;  not  only 
did  it  display  clear  method,  lucid  statement  and  happy  sug 
gestions,  but  it  proposed  a  plan  for  improving  the  banking 
system  of  the  State,  which  embodied  the  happiest  solution  that 
has  ever  been  offered  of  the  great  problem  of  devising  a  circu 
lating  medium  which  should  combine  the  lightness  and  conve 
nience  of  paper  with  the  security  of  gold  and  silver.  We 
quote  from  his  report  all  that  he  said  on  the  subject  of  banks, 
asking  particular  attention  to  the  part  which  recommends 


100  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAED    FILLMORE. 

United  States  stocks  as  a  basis  of  banking.  The  reader  will 
be  struck  with  the  comprehensiveness  of  view  which  so  readily 
combines  a  measure  of  State  policy  with  a  method  for  facilitat 
ing  the  collection  of  the  national  revenues.  The  plan  pro 
posed  by  Mr.  Fillmore  would  unite  the  advantages  claimed  for 
both  a  United  States  Bank  and  the  sub-treasury  system,  with 
out  the  dangers  and  inconveniences  of  either : 


"  In  order  to  determine  this  question  properly,  several  things 
are  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  and  the  first  is,  what  is  the 
duty  of  the  State  in  reference  to  banking?  It  would,  doubt 
less,  be  desirable  to  create  banks  which  should  be  able  to  dis 
charge  every  obligation,  not  only  to  the  bill-holder,  but  to  the 
depositors,  and  all  others  to  whom  it  should  incur  any  liability. 
But  this  is  impossible.  The  safety  fund,  which  was  intended 
to  provide  such  security,  would  have  been  ample  to  redeem 
all  the  circulation  of  the  banks  which  have  failed,  but  it  has 
been  exhausted  in  paying  depositors  arid  other  creditors  of  the 
insolvent  banks,  and  is  now  mortgaged  for  all  it  will  probably 
produce  for  eighteen  years  to  come.  Thus  by  attempting 
more  than  could  be  accomplished,  the  Legislature  failed  to 
secure  the  bill-holder,  which  was  in  its  power,  and,  for  the 
remaining  eighteen  years  that  some  of  these  charters  have  to 
run,  the  safety  fund  yields  him  no  security.  It  is  apparent, 
then,  that  security  for  all  liabilities  can  not  be  provided,  and 
the  State  is  under  no  more  obligation  to  attempt  this  impossi 
bility  than  it  would  be  the  equally  absurd  one  of  making  every 
merchant  capable  of  meeting  all  the  obligations  he  should  incur. 

"It  is  humbly  conceived  the  duty  of  the  State  in  this  case 
begins  and  ends  with  furnishing  a  good  and  safe  currency  to 
the  people.  To  furnish  this  currency,  so  far  as  it  consists  of 
paper  or  credit,  is  an  exclusive  privilege  granted  by  the  State, 
and  the  State  should  take  care  that  in  granting  it  the  people 
are  secured  from  imposition  and  loss.  Any  man  may  receive 
deposits,  or  discount  a  note,  or  loan  money,  or  draw  a  bill  of 
exchange. 

"  These,  it  is  admitted,  are  banking  operations.  But  they 
are  open  to  all.  Those  who  engage  in  them  enjoy  no  exclu 
sive  privilege.  But  not  so  with  those  who  are  authorized  to 


BANKS   AND   BANKING.  101 

issue  bank  notes  to  circulate  as  money.  This  is  a  banking  op 
eration  confined  to  the  few.  It  is  a  prerogative  enjoyed  exclu 
sively  by  the  money  kings  of  the  country,  and  they  should  not 
enjoy  it  without  giving  the  most  ample  security.  This  duty  is 
justly  imposed  for  the  privilege  which  is  granted. 

"  Assuming,  then,  that  the  great  object  of  legislation  on  this 
subject  is  to  provide  a  sound  currency  by  giving  ample  security 
to  the  bill-holder,  the  question  is,  how  can  this  best  be  accom 
plished?  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  safety  fund  banks 
derive  much  of  their  credit  from  the  individuals  who  were  in 
corporated.  -By  granting  a  special  charter  in  each  case,  the 
Legislature  had  it  in  its  power  in  some  measure  to  control  this 
matter. 

"  But  there  was  an  attendant  evil  that  in  the  opinion  of  many 
outweighed  the  good.  The  practice  of  granting  exclusive  priv 
ileges  to  particular  individuals  invited  competition  for  these 
legislative  favors.  They  were  soon  regarded  as  part  of  the 
spoils  belonging  to  the  victorious  party,  and  were  dealt  out  as 
rewards  for  partisan  services. 

"  This  practice  became  so  shameless  and  corrupt  that  it  could 
be  endured  no  longer,  and  in  1838  the  legislature  sought  a 
remedy  in  the  general  banking  law.  This  was  the  origin  of 
the  free  bank  system.  Since  that  time  no  safety  fund  bank 
has  been  chartered;  and  in  1846  the  people  set  their  seal  of 
reprobation  upon  this  practice  of  granting  special  charters  for 
banks,  by  providing  in  the  new  constitution  that  'the  Legisla 
ture  should  have  no  power  to  pass  any  act  granting  any  special 
charter  for  banking  purposes,  but  that  corporations  or  associa 
tions  might  be  formed  for  such  purposes  under  general  laws.1 
"Would  it  be  safe,  then,  to  provide  by  general  law  that 
voluntary  associations  or  incorporations  might  be  formed  any 
where  and  by  any  persons  for  banking?  The  Comptroller 
thinks  not.  Suppose  they  were  required  to  pay  in  all  their 
capital,  and  the  most  satisfactory  proof  should  be  required  of 
this  fact.  Even  this-  is  no  security  to  the  bill-holder.  The 
capital  paid  in  is  left  in  the  custody  of  those  who  pay  it.  They 
can  withdraw  it  at  pleasure.  It  would  only  be  necessary  for 
those  who  wished  to  practice  a  fraud  upon  the  credulity  of  the 
community,  and  reap  a  golden  harvest,  to  associate  together 
and  form  a  bank,  pay  in  a  large  capital,  appoint  one  of  their 
associates  president,  and  another  cashier, to  take  charge  of  it; 


102  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

Erove  to  this  department  these  facts,  and  obtain  bills  for  circu- 
ition  to  an  equal  amount,  and  then  pay  them  out  for  property 
easily  transported  —  take  their  capital  and  leave  for  California, 
and  in  one  week  would  be  beyond  the  reach  of  process  or  the 
power  of  coercion. 

"But  it  has  been  suggested  that  each  bank  might  be  re 
quired  to  deposit  a  certain  amount,  say  ten  per  cent.,  in  the 
treasury,  to  constitute  a  fund  for  the  redemption  of  its  bills. 
So  far  as  this  deposit  goes  it  may  be  safe.  It  is  on  the  princi 
ple  of  the  free  bank  system.  But  if  the  deposit  be  intended 
for  the  redemption  of  the  bank  only  which  makes  the  deposit, 
it  is  wholly  inadequate.  It  is  no  more  than  the  banks  under 
the  old  safety  fund  system  paid  to  a  general  fund.  Their 
charters  had  twenty  years  to  run.  They  paid  half  of  one  per 
cent,  per  annum,  making  in  all  ten  per  cent.  To  say  that  one 
dollar  is  deposited  as  a  security  for  the  redemption  of  ten,  is 
a  mockery. 

<l  But  it  may  be  said  that  the  bills  constitute  a  common  fund 
for  the  redemption  of  the  bills  of  the  insolvent  banks  only. 
Then,  as  many  which  are  solvent  will  not  want  it,  there  will 
be  enough  to  redeem  all  the  bills  of  those  which  shall  prove 
insolvent.  This  is  doubted.  This  fund,  instead  of  being 
sufficient  to  redeem  the  notes  of  all  insolvent  banks,  would 
probably  for  a  time  give  just  credit  enough  to  the  fraudulent 
associations  which  would  be  formed,  to  enable  them  to  get 
their  notes  in  circulation,  and  then  by  withdrawing  their  capi 
tal  the  more  effectually  defraud  the  community.  It  is  believed 
to  be  wholly  inadequate  for  the  object  intended. 

"The  Comptroller  believes  that  the  safest  way  to  make  a 
sound  paper  currency,  is  to  have  at  all  times  ample  security 
for  its  redemption  in  the  possession  of  the  State.  In  order  to 
make  this  security  ample,  it  should  be  not  only  sufficient  in 
amount,  but  should  be  of  such  a  nature  that  it  may  be  readily- 
converted  into  cash  without  loss.  It  is  not  enough  that  the 
security  be  ultimately  good  or  collectable;  delay  in  redeeming 
the  circulation  causes  it  to  depreciate,  and  is  almost  as  fatal  to 
the  poor  man  who  can  not  wait,  as  ultimate  insolvency.  He 
becomes  at  once  the  victim  of  the  broker. 

"  A  bond  and  mortgage  may  be  good  —  that  is,  the  whole 
amount  secured  by  them  may  be  collectable.  But  the  bill- 
holder  can  not  wait  for  this.  They  must  be  convertible  into 


BANKING.  103 

cash  by  sale,  and  if  for  any  reason  this  can  not  be  promptly 
done,  they  ace  not  of  that  kind  of  security  which  should  be 
required.  All  the  experience  of  this  department  shows  that 
bonds  and  mortgages  are  not  the  best  security  for  this  purpose, 
and  while  better  security  can  be  had,  it  is  deeply  to  be  regret 
ted  that  they  were  ever  received.  The  apprehension  that 
there  may  be  a  defect  of  title,  that  the  lands  mortgaged  may 
have  been  appraised  too  high,  or  that  there  may  be  some  legal 
defense  to  a  suit  of  foreclosure,  all  conspire  to  depreciate  their 
value  in  the  estimation  of  purchasers,  when  offered  for  sale  at 
auction  on  the  failure  of  a  bank. 

"  Capitalists  are  cautious  about  purchasing,  and  the  conse 
quence  is  that  they  have  sometimes  sold  for  less  than  twenty 
per  cent,  on  the  amount  received  by  them,  and  the  average 
amount  for  which  all  have  been  sold,  for  the  last  ten  years,  is 
only  thirty-seven  and  seventy-one  hundredths  per  cent.,  while 
the  average  amount  for  which  the  five  per  cent,  stocks  of  this 
State  have  sold  is  ninety-two  eighty-six  one-hundredths  per 
cent.,  or  ninety-two  dollars  and  eighty-six  one-hundredths  for 
every  hundred  dollars  of  stock.  This  shows  that  a  six  per 
cent,  stock,  such  as  is  now  required,  would  doubtless  have  sold 
at  par,  and  the  bill-holder  would  have  received  dollar  for  dol 
lar  for  the  circulation. 

"  Should  the  country  remain  at  peace,  it  can  not  be  doubted 
that  the  stocks  of  the  United  States  will  be  a  safe  and  adequate 
security.  The  Comptroller  would  therefore  recommend  that 
the  law  be  so  changed  as  to  exclude  bonds  and  mortgages 
from  all  free  banks  which  shall  hereafter  commence  business, 
and  to  prevent  the  taking  of  any  more  from  those  now  in  op 
eration,  and  to  require  that  ten  per  cent,  per  annum  of  those 
now  held  as  security  be  withdrawn,  and  their  places  supplied 
by  stocks  of  this  State,  or  of  the  United  States.  If  this  re 
commendation  be  adopted,  at  the  end  of  ten  years  the  whole 
security  will  be  equal  to  a  six  per  cent,  stock  of  this  State  or 
of  the  United  States,  which  it  is»  presumed  will  be  ample  se 
curity  for  the  redemption  of  all  bills  in  circulation. 

"  Could  this  system  of  banking  be  generally  adopted  in  the 
several  States,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  it  would  prove  highly 
beneficial.  It  would  create  a  demand  for  their  own  State 
stocks.  The  interest  paid  upon  them  would  be  paid  to  their 
own  citizens.  Every  man  who  held  a  bank  note,  secured  by 


104:  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD   FILLMORE. 

such  stock,  would  have  a  direct  interest  in  maintaining  invio 
late  the  credit  of  the  State.  The  blasting  cry  of  repudiation 
would  never  again  be  heard,  and  the  plighted  fartfri  of  the  State 
would  be  as  sacred  as  national  honor;  and  lastly,  it  would  give 
them  a  sound  and  uniform  currency. 

"  If,  then,  in  addition  to  this,  Congress  would  authorize  such 
notes  as  were  secured  by  stocks  of  the  United  States  to  be 
received  for  public  dues  to  the  national  treasury,  this  would 
give  to  such  notes  a  universal  credit,  co-extensive  with  the 
United  States,  and  leave  nothing  further  to  be  desired  in  the 
shape  of  a  national  paper  currency.  This  would  avoid  all  ob 
jection  to  a  national  bank,  by  obviating  all  necessity  fur  one, 
for  the  purpose  of  famishing  a  national  currency.  The  na 
tional  government  might  be  made  amply  secure.  The  law 
might  provide  that  all  bills  secured  by  United  States  stock 
should  be  registered  and  countersigned  in  the  treasury  depart 
ment,  as  the  notes  circulated  by  the  banks  in  this  State  are 
registered  and  countersigned  in  this  office.  This  would  enable 
every  collector,  postmaster,  or  other  receiver  of  public  moneys, 
to  know  that  they  were  receivable  for  public  dues. 

"  The  stock  of  the  United  States  by  which  their  redemption 
was  secured,  might  be  so  transferred  to  the  State  officer  hold 
ing  the  same,  that  it  could  not  be  sold  or  transferred  by  him 
without  the  assent  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  in  case 
of  the  failure  of  the  bank  to  redeem  its  notes,  it  might  be  op 
tional  with  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  exchange  the  notes 
held  by  the  government  for  an  equal  amount  of  United  States 
stock  held  for  their  redemption,  or  let  it  be  sold  and  receive 
the  government's  share  of  the  dividends.  In  this  way  the 
national  government  would  always  be  secure  against  loss. 

"  But  this  suggestion  is  foreign  from  the  chief  object  of  this 
report,  and  is  merely  thrown  out  to  invite  attention  to  the  sub 
ject.  But  in  conclusion,  the  Comptroller  has  no  hesitation  in 
recommending  that  the  free  bank  system  be  modified  in  the 
particulars  above  suggested,  and  that  it  be  then  adopted  in 
preference  to  the  safety  fund  system,  as  the  banking  system 
of  this  State. 

"  It  can  not  be  supposed  that  the  banking  under  this  sys 
tem  will  be  as  profitable  as  it  has  been  under  the  safety  fund 
system.  It  is  therefore  desirable  that  every  facility  should  be 
given  to  capitalists  who  engage  in  it  that  can  be  granted  con- 


RESIGNS   THE   COMPTKOLLERSHIP.  105 

sistent  with  the  security  of  the  public,  and  that  no  unreason 
able  or  unjust  system  of  taxation  should  be  adopted  which 
discriminates  invidiously  against  them;  but  persons  engaged 
in  banking  should  be  taxed  like  all  other  citizens." 

The  report  from  which  this  extract  is  taken  is  the  only  one 
ever  prepared  by  Mr.  FilJmore  as  Comptroller  of  New  York. 
Soon  after  its  transmission  to  the  Legislature,  he  resigned  that 
office  to  enter  upon  his  duties  as  Vice-president  of  the  United 
States. 

5* 


106  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD    FILLMOKE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

VICE-PRESIDENT    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

In  accepting  the  office  of  Comptroller,  Mr.  Fillmore  had 
yielded  to  the  urgent  persuasions  of  his  political  friends  at  a 
considerable  sacrifice  of  private  interest.  He  was  reluctant  to 
relinquish  a  large  and  lucrative  professional  business,  and,  in  con 
senting  to  take  the  office,  he  determined  that,  on  the  expiration 
of  his  term,  he  would  return  to  private  life  and  devote  himself 
to  professional  pursuits.  When,  therefore,  he  was  solicited  to 
allow  his  name  to  be  presented  to  the  Whig  National  Conven 
tion,  in  1848,  as  a  candidate  for  Vice-president,  he  refused  to 
entertain  the  proposal. 

Previous  to  the  assembling  of  the  Convention,  there  existed, 
in  the  Whig  party,  great  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  who  should 
be  selected  as  candidate  for  President.  A  majority  of  the  Whigs 
of  New  York,  and  several  other  States,  were  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Clay ;  but  the  great  personal  popularity  which  always  attends 
successful  military  exploits,  seemed  to  render  it  expedient  that 
the  Whigs  should  select  one  of  the  two  generals  who  had  won 
great  distinction  in  the  war  with  Mexico.  Besides  his  great 
military  talents,  Gen.  Scott  was  supposed  to  possess  such  a 
knowledge  of  civil  affairs  as  eminently  fitted  him  to  administer 
the  government;  and  in  fact,  he  had  been  a  prominent  Whig- 
candidate  previous  to  his  brilliant  achievements  in  the  Mexican 
war.  But  the  same  objection  which  was  urged  against  Mr. 
Clay,  applied,  in  some  degree,  to  Gen.  Scott.  He  too,  had  for 
many  years  been  talked  of  in  connection  with  the  presidency, 


GEN.    TAYLOK.  107 

and  was  regarded  by  many  in  the  light  of  an  unsuccessful  as 
pirant.  In  deciding  among  the  three,  if  eminent  fitness  for  the 
office  were  to  determine  the  choice,  there  could  be  no  doubt 
that  the  nomination  should  be  given  to  Mr.  Clay,  while  the 
reasons  founded  on  personal  availability  seemed  to  preponder 
ate  in  favor  of  Gen.  Taylor.  He  had  won  the  earliest  and 
some  of  the  most  brilliant  victories  in  the  Mexican  war,  and, 
though  entirely  destitute  of  civil  experience,  the  people  seemed 
impatient  to  testify  their  gratitude  for  his  military  services  by 
elevating  him  to  the  first  office  in  the  republic.  In  fact,  he  had 
been  spontaneously  nominated,  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
without  any  regard  to  his  party  connections,  and  before  it  was 
known  in  what  direction  his  political  sympathies  leaned.  The 
principal  objection  made  to  him  by  such  Whigs  as  opposed  his 
nomination,  was  that  there  was  no  evidence  that  he  belonged 
to  their  party.  Palo  Alto,  and  Resaca  de  la  Pal  ma,  and  Mon 
terey,  and  Buena  Vista,  were  charmed  names  which  would  at 
tract  a  host  of  supporters ;  but  what  evidence  is  there,  inquired 
many  anxious  Whigs  who  were  not  insensible  to  Gen.  Taylor's 
great  personal  strength,  what  evidence  is  there,  that  if  elected 
by  Whigs  he  would  carry  out  W  hig  principles  ?  The  follow 
ing  letter,  which  found  its  way  into  the  newspapers,  had  no 
tendency  to  remove  their  doubts : 

"  BATON  ROUGE,  LA.,  January  30th,  1848. 

"  SIR:  Your  communication  of  the  15th  instant  has  been  re 
ceived,  and  the  suggestions  therein  offered  duly  considered. 

"  In  reply  to  your  inquiries,  I  have  again  to  repeat,  that  I 
have  neither  the  power  nor  the  desire  to  dictate  to  the  American 
people  the  exact  manner  in  which  they  should  proceed  to  nom 
inate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States.  If  they  desire 
such  a  result,  they  must  adopt  the  means  best  suited,  in  their 
opinion,  to  the  consummation  of  the  purpose ;  and  if  they  think 
fit  to  bring  me  before  them  for  this  office,  through  their  Legis 
latures,  mass  meetings,  or  conventions,  I  can  not  object  to 
their  designating  these  bodies  as  Whig,  Democrat,  or  Native. 


108  BIOGKAPIIY    OF    MILLAKD    FILLMOKE. 

But  in  being  thus  nominated,  I  must  insist  on  the  condition  — 
and  my  position  on  this  point  is  immutable  —  that  I  shall  not 
be  brought  forward  by  them  as  the  candidate  of  their  party, 
or  considered  as  the  exponent  of  their  party  doctrines. 

"  In  conclusion,  I  have  to  repeat,  that  if  I  were  nominated 
for  the  presidency,  by  any  body  of  my  fellow-citizens,  designa 
ted  by  any  name  they  might  choose  to  adopt,  I  should  esteem 
it  an  honor,  and  would  accept  such  nomination,  provided  it  had 
been  made  entirely  independent  of  party  considerations. 
"  I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"Z.  TAYLOR. 
"PETER  SEEN  SMITH,  Esq.,  Philadelphia." 

A  letter  to  Captain  Allison,  which  he  wrote  three  months 
later,  did  much  to  efface  the  impression  which  the  one  just 
quoted  was  calculated  to  produce,  and  so  far  satisfied  a  great 
portion  of  the  Whigs,  that  General  Taylor's  name  was  promi 
nently  brought  before  the  Whig  Convention,  which  met  at 
Philadelphia,  on  the  1st  of  June,  1848.  The  portions  of  his 
Allison  letter  in  which  Gen.  Taylor  avowed  his  Whig  principles 
are  the  following: 

"  I  will  proceed,  however,  now  to  respond  to  your  inquiries : — 
"1.  I  reiterate  what  I  have  so  often  said:  lam  a  Whig. 
If  elected,  I  would  not  be  the  mere  president  of  a  party.  I 
would  endeavor  to  act  independent  of  party  domination.  I 
should  feel  bound  to  administer  the  government  untrammeled 
by  party  schemes. 

"2.  The  Veto  Power.  —  The  power  given  by  the  constitution 
to  the  executive  to  interpose  his  veto,  is  a  high  conservative 
power;  but,  in  my  opinion,  should  never  be  exercised  except 
in  cases  of  clear  violation  of  the  constitution,  or  manifest  haste 
and  want  of  consideration  by  Congress.  Indeed,  I  have 
thought  that  for  many  years  past  the  known  opinions  and 
wishes  of  the  executive  have  exercised  undue  and  injurious  in 
fluence  upon  the  legislative  department  of  the  government; 
and  for  this  cause  I  have  thought  that  our  system  was  in 
danger  of  undergoing  a  great  change  from  its  true  theory. 
The  personal  opinions  of  the  individual  who  may  happen  to 


THE   VETO   POWEK.  109 

occupy  the  executive  chair,  ought  not  to  control  the  action  of 
Congress  upon  questions  of  domestic  policy ;  nor  ought  his  ob 
jections  to  be  interposed  where  questions  of  constitutional 
power  have  been  settled  by  the  various  departments  of  gov 
ernment,  and  acquiesced  in  by  the  people. 

"3.  Upon  the  subject  of  the"  tariff,  the  currency,  the  im 
provement  of  our  great  highways,  rivers,  lakes,  and  harbors, 
the  will  of  the  people  as  expressed  through  their  representa 
tives  in  Congress,  ought  to  be  respected  and  carried  out  by 
the  executive." 

The  principal  feature  of  this  avowal  is  the  implied  pledge 
that,  if  elected  President,  he  would  not  thwart  the  wishes  of 
Congress  by  the  executive  veto.  The  political  history  of  the 
country,  for  the  preceding  thirty  years,  had  led  the  Whigs  to 
attach  great  importance  to  the  views  expressed  by  Gen.  Taylor 
respecting  the  exercise  of  the  veto  power.  Gen.  Jackson's 
veto  of  the  bill  for  rechartering  the  United  States  Bank,  the 
veto  of  various  internal  improvement  bills  by  Democratic  pres 
idents,  and  particularly  the  vetoes  of  President  Tyler,  which 
had  stung  them  almost  to  madness,  had  caused  the  Whigs  to 
array  themselves  against  the  exercise  of  the  veto  power  by  the 
national  executive,  except  in  cases  of  clear  and  palpable  viola 
tion  of  the  constitution.  A  pledge  not  to  defeat  Whig  meas 
ures  by  a  veto  was  therefore  regarded  as  of  more  practical 
importance  than  any  declaration  of  principles  which  a  Whig 
candidate  could  make.  Still  there  were  many  Whigs  who  pre 
ferred  the  old  and  tried  leaders,  who  had  battled  for  their  prin 
ciples  during  a  whole  life-time.  The  first  ballot  taken  in  the 
Convention,  while  it  showed  the  popularity  of  Gen.  Taylor, 
disclosed,  at  the  same  time,  a  strong  disposition  to  select  some 
one  of  the  veteran  champions  of  the  party. 

The  vote  stood,  on  the  first  ballot,  as  follows:  For  Zachary 
Taylor,  one  hundred  and  eleven ;  Henry  Clay,  ninety-seven ; 
Winfield  Scott,  forty-three;  Daniel  Webster,  twenty-two;  John 
M.  Clayton,  four;  John  M'Lean,  two.  Necessary  for  a  choice, 


110  BIOGKAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMOEE. 

one  hundred  and  forty;  the  whole  number  of  votes  being  two 
hundred  and  seventy-nine.  On  the  second  ballot  the  vote  stood 
for  Taylor,  one  hundred  and  eighteen ;  Clay,  eighty-six ;  Scott, 
forty-nine;  Webster,  twenty-two;  Clayton,  four.  Third  ballot, 
Taylor, one  hundred  and  thirty-three;  Clay,  seventy-four;  Scott, 
fifty-four;  Webster,  seventeen;  Clayton,  one.  On  the  fourth 
and  final  ballot  Taylor  received  one  hundred  and  seventy-one 
votes,  and  was  declared  elected. 

This  result  had  been  anticipated  from  the  beginning,  but 
all  except  five  or  six  of  the  delegates  from  New  York,  and  the 
Whigs  of  that  State  in  a  still  larger  proportion,  preferred  Mr. 
Clay.  The  friends  of  Gen.  Taylor  were  understood  to  favor 
the  nomination  of  Abbott  Lawrence,  of  Massachusetts,  as  Vice- 
president.  Mr.  Lawrence  was  a  most  estimable  gentleman  and 
true  Whig,  personally  unobjectionable  to  any  member  of  the 
party;  but  as  he  was  known  to  have  been  a  Taylor  man  from 
the  beginning,  it  was  thought  that  some  other  name  on  the 
ticket  with  Gen.  Taylor  would  be  more  likely  to  insure  his 
success. 

In  this  state  of  things  some  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Fillmore 
called  on  him,  on  their  way  to  the  convention,  and  solicited  his 
permission  to  present  his  name  as  candidate  for  Vice-president. 
He  made  objections,  and  expressed  his  intention  to  retire  to 
private  life  on  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  as  Comp 
troller.  The  representations  of  his  friends  were,  however,  so 
urgent  as  finally  to  draw  from  him  a  promise  not  to  refuse  in 
case  he  should  be  nominated. 

As  soon  as  the  fourth  ballot,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  re 
sulted  in  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Taylor,  was  over,  and  the 
cheering  which  greeted  the  announcement,  both  within  and 
without  the  building,  had  partially  subsided,  Hon.  John  A. 
Collier,  a  State  delegate  from  New  York,  and  zealous  Clay 
man,  took  the  floor  and  made  a  brief  speech,  which  was 
listened  to  with  great  attention.  He  did  not  conceal  his 


LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE.  Ill 

disappointment  at  a  result  he  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  de 
feat,  but  declared  that  he  would  neither  bolt  the  nomination  him 
self,  nor  countenance  bolting  in  others.  And,  as  a  pledge  of 
the  good  faith  with  which  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  in  New  York 
would  support  Gen.  Taylor,  he  proposed  the  name  of  Millard 
Fillmore  as  the  candidate  for  Vice-president. 

These  remarks  were  received  with  unbounded  applause,  and, 
in  a  few  minutes,  the  Convention  proceeded  to  ballot.  Of  the 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  votes  cast  on  the  first  ballot,  Mr. 
Fillmore  had  one  hundred  and  fifteen,  Mr.  Lawrence  one  hun 
dred  and  nine,  and  the  rest  were  scattering.  On  the  second 
ballot  Mr.  Fillmore  received  one  hundred  and  seventy-three 
votes,  (two  more  than  had  been  given  to  Gen.  Taylor,)  and 
was  declared  nominated. 

To  the  letter  of  the  president  of  the  convention,  informing 
him  of  his  nomination,  Mr.  Fillmore  made  the  following  reply: 

"ALBANY,  N.  Y.,  June  17th,  1848. 

"  SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
letter  of  the  10th  inst.,  by  which  I  am  notified  that  at  the  late 
Whig  Convention  held  at  Philadelphia,  Gen.  Zachary  Taylor 
was  nominated  for  President  and  myself  for  Vice-president,  and 
requesting  my  acceptance. 

"  The  honor  of  being  thus  presented  by  the  distinguished 
representatives  of  the  Whig  party  of  the  Union  for  the  second 
office  in  the  gift  of  the  people  —  an  honor  as  unexpected  as  it 
was  unsolicited  —  could  not  fail  to  awaken  in  a  grateful  heart 
emotions  which,  while  they  can  not  be  suppressed,  find  no 
appropriate  language  for  utterance. 

"  Fully  persuaded  that  the  cause  in  which  we  are  enlisted  is 
the  cause  of  our  country,  that  our  chief  object  is  to  secure  its 
peace,  preserve  its  honor,  and  advance  its  prosperity ;  and  feel 
ing,  moreover,  a  confident  assurance  that  in  Gen.  Taylor  (whose 
name  is  presented  for  the  first  office)  I  shall  always  find  a  firm 
and  consistent  Whig,  a  safe  guide,  and  an  honest  man,  I  can  not 
hesitate  to  assume  any  position  which  my  friends  may  assign  me. 

"Distrusting,  as  I  well  may,  my  ability  to  discharge  satis 
factorily  the  duties  of  that  high  office,  but  feeling  that,  in  case 


112  BIOGRAPHY   OF  MILLAKD   FILLMOEE. 

of  my  election,  I  may  with  safety  repose  upon  tlie  friendly  aid 
of  my  fellow  Whigs,  and  th.it  efforts  guided  by  honest  inten 
tions  will  always  be  charitably  judged,  I  accept  the  nomination 
so  generously  tendered,  and  I  do  this  the  more  cheerfully,  as 
I  am  willing,  for  such  a  cause  and  with  such  a  man,  to  take 
my  chances  of  success  or  defeat,  as  the  electors,  the  final  arbi 
ters  of  our  fate,  shall,  in  their  wisdom,  judge  best  for  the 
interests  of  our  common  country. 

"  Please  accept  the  assurance  of  my  high  regard  and  esteem, 
and  permit  me  to  subscribe  myself 

"  Your  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

"MlLLARD  FlLLMOKE. 

"  Hon.  J.  M.  MORE  HE  AD." 

The  result  of  the  presidential  election  which  took  place  in 
November,  1848,  was  that  Taylor  and  Fillmore  received  each 
one  hundred  and  sixty-three  electoral  votes,  against  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-seven  votes  given  to  Cass  and  Butler,  the 
Democratic  candidates  for  President  and  Vice-president. 

Mr.  Fillmore  happening  to  be  in  New  York  a  few  days  after 
the  result  of  the  election  became  known,  the  Whig  general 
committee,  which  was  in  session,  waited  on  him  in  a  body,  and 
tendered  him  their  congratulations  on  his  election.  Hon. 
Philip  Hone,  chairman  of  the  general  committee,  addressed 
Mr.  Fillmore  as  follows: 

"SiR:  The  Whig  general  committee  wait  upon  you  in  a  body 
to  express  the  pleasure  they  feel,  not  only  in  the  triumph  of 
their  principles,  but  a  pleasure  augmented  by  the  agreeable 
fact  that  it  elects  you  to  the  second  office  in  the  federal  gov 
ernment —  you,  a  New  York  boy,  born  on  our  soil,  a  noble 
son  of  our  own  institutions,  who  has  made  his  own  way  ahead 
by  his  own  industry,  and  energy,  and  devotion  to  correct,  sound 
principles.  It  is  known  to  you  that  the  first  choice  of  the 
general  committee  was  not  the  illustrious  man  just  elected 
President  —  for  our  hearts  were  pledged  elsewhere  —  but  for 
the  position  you  are  to  hold,  you  were  our  first  choice ;  and 
whatever  temporary  disappointment  we  felt  in  the  first  result 
of  the  Philadelphia  nominations,  was  immediately  alleviated  by 


RECEPTION    IN   NEW  YOEK.  113 

the  agreeable  intelligence  that  you  were  to  share  its  fortunes 
and  its  honors.  New  York  knew  you.  Your  name  was  fa 
miliar  in  our  ears.  You  were  the  real  favorite  son  of  the 
State  —  and  from  the  moment  the  ticket  was  formed,  we  gave 
to  it  our  hearty,  energetic,  and  undivided  support. 

"  Sir,  in  tendering  you  our  congratulations,  we  may  add 
that  we  look  to  you  to  contribute  your  part,  and  we  know  we 
look  now  with  no  prospect  of  disappointment  from  you,  to  a 
sound,  healthy,  and  patriotic  administration  of  the  government. 
You  will  do  all  you  can  to  put  the  Ship  of  State  on  the  right 
tack.  You  will  engage  in  no  intrigue,  and  no  corruptions, 
that  think  only  of  a  party,  and  nothing  of  the  Republic.  You 
will  exercise  what  influence  you  have  to  preserve  the  public 
peace,  when  with  honor  peace  can  be  preserved.  Indeed,  we 
may  say  we  look  to  you  and  to  the  illustrious  man  connected 
with  you  to  undo  'much  of  what  has  been  done  for  four  years 
past.  We  want  a  patriotic,  honest  government.  We  want  a 
government  for  the  good  of  the  people,  not  the  good  of  party 
only,  and  we  are  sure  that  in  looking  to  you,  we  look  to  one 
who  will  ever  maintain  and  never  desert  the  right." 

To  this  address  Mr.  Fillmore  made  the  following  reply : 

"MR.  CHAIRMAN:  A  compliment  from  a  city  like  yours,  the 
Empire  City,  not  only  of  the  Empire  State,  but  the  commer 
cial  emporium  of  our  whole  common  country,  could  never  be 
properly  replied  to  by  me,  even  if  I  had  time  to  prepare  —  but 
the  suddenness  of  your  announcement,  and  the  warmth  and 
heartiness  with  which  you  have  welcomed  me,  quite  unfit  me 
to  make  any  reply  at  all.  1  can  only  thank  you,  in  my  embar 
rassment;  but  I  am  sure  it  is  not  to  me  this  tribute  is  rendered, 
but  to  the  illustrious  man  under  whose  name  and  whose  prin 
ciples  we  have  achieved  the  brilliant  civil  victory  that  the  tele 
graph  for  the  week  past  has  been  sending  to  us.  In  that  man, 
and  his  simplicity,  energy  and  straightforwardness,  I  have  the 
highest  confidence.  I  have  never  had  the  honor  of  taking  him 
by  the  hand,  or  of  meeting  him  face  to  face,  but  I  have  studied 
well  his  character,  and  I  feel,  therefore,  that  I  know  him  well ; 
for  it  is  a  character  plain  and  open,  to  be  read  by  every  body, 
and  not  of  that  complex  nature  that  deludes  and  puzzles  the 
observer. 


114:  BIOGRAPHY  OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  that  under  his  administration  you  will 
realize  all  the  high  and  patriotic  expectations  that  you  enter- 
tarn,  and  that  the  country  will  receive  an  impetus  and  a  direc 
tion,  under  his  honest  hands,  that  will  go  far,  not  only  to  make 
it  flourish,  but  to  make  its  institutions  endure.  I  look  to  him 
with  confidence  for  a  restoration  of  sound  republican  principles, 
and  for  an  administration  of  honest  men;  and  with  him,  I  am 
sure,  we  shall  have  the  government  of  the  popular  voice  —  not 
the  expression  of  the  arbitrary  will  of  one  man.  What  the 
people  demand,  the  people  will  have,  and  upon  them  will  de 
pend  the  success  of  the  administration  of  Zachary  Taylor. 
(Cheers.) 

"  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  heartily  for  the  kindness  with 
which  you  have  welcomed  me,  and  I  wish  you  all  happiness 
and  prosperity."  (Prolonged  cheering.) 

About  this  time  Mr.  Fillmore  wrote  a  private  letter  to  a  friend, 
which  was  so  honorable,  patriotic  and  truly  national,  that  we 
copy  the  following  extract : 

*  *  *  «  To  me  there  is  no  manifestation  of  popular  sen 
timent  which  calls  up  such  deep  feelings  of  gratitude  as  that 
generous  vote  of  my  old  friends  and  early  constituents  of  the 
county  of  Erie.  It  is  now  twenty  years  since  they  first  elected 
me  to  the  Assembly,  and  from  that  day  to  this  they  have  stood 
by  me  through  good  and  through  evil  report,  and  sustained  me 
under  all  circumstances  with  a  zeal  and  fidelity  almost  unknown 
in  this  country;  and  the  last  crowning  act  of  their  continued 
kindness  and  confidence  awakens  the  deepest  emotions  of  a 
grateful  heart. 

"  I  trust,  too,  that  you  will  not  blame  me  for  expressing  the 
gratification  and  pride  which  I  feel  in  receiving  so  flattering  a 
vote  in  my  native  State.  But  these  things  are  in  a  measure 
personal  to  myself,  and  therefore  of  little  importancce.  But 
the  cordiality  and  unanimity  with  which  the  Whig  ticket  has 
been  sustained  every  where,  North  and  South,  East  and  West, 
is  a  just  cause  of  national  felicitation.  It  proves  that  the  great 
Whig  party  is  truly  a  national  party  —  that  it  occupies" that 
safe  and-conservative  ground  which  secures  to  every  section  of 
the  country  all  that  it  has  a  right  to  claim  under  tne  guaranty 
of  the  constitution  —  that  such  rights  are  inviolate  —  and  as  to 


VICE-PRESIDENT.  115 

all  other  questions  of  mere  policy,  where  Congress  has  the  con 
stitutional  right  to  legislate,  the  will  of  the  people,  as  expressed 
through  their  representatives  in  Congress,  is  to  control,  and 
that  will  is  not  to  be  defeated  by  the  arbitrary  interposition  of 
the  veto  power. 

This  simple  rule  which  holds  sacred  all  constitutional  guar 
antees,  and  leaves  the  law-making  power  where  the  constitution 
placed  it,  in  Congress,  relieves  the  party  at  once  from  all  the 
embarrassing  questions  that  arise  out  of  sectional  differences  of 
opinion,  and  enables  it  to  act  harmoniously  for  the  good  of  the 
country.  When  the  President  ceases  to  control  the  law-making 
power,  his  individual  opinions  of  what  the  law  ought  to  be, 
become  comparatively  unimportant.  Hence  we  have  seen 
Gen.  Taylor,  though  attacked  as  a  slaveholder  and  a  pro- 
slavery  man  at  the  North,  cordially  supported  and  triumphantly 
elected  by  men  opposed  to  slavery,  in  all  its  forms ;  and  though 
I  have  been  charged  at  the  South,  in  the  most  gross  and  wan 
ton  manner,  with  being  an  abolitionist  and  an  incendiary,  yet 
the  Whigs  of  the  South  have  cast  these  calumnies  to  the 
winds,  and,  without  asking  or  expecting  any  thing  more  than 
what  the  constitution  guarantees  to  them  on  this  subject,  they 
have  yielded  to  me  a  most  hearty  and  enthusiastic  support. 
This  was  particularly  so  in  New  Orleans,  where  the  attack 
was  most  violent. 

"Really,  these  Southern  Whigs  are  noble  fellows.  Would 
you  not  lament  to  see  the  Union  dissolved,  if  for  no  other  cause 
than  that  it  separated  us  from  such  true,  noble  and  high-minded 
associates  ?  But  I  regard  this  election  as  putting  an  end  to  all 
ideas  of  disunion.  It  raises  up  a  national  party,  occupying  a 
middle  ground,  and  leaves  the  fanatics  and  disunionists,  North 
and  South,  without  the  hope  of  destroying  the  fair  fabric  of  our 
constitution.  May  it  be  perpetual !" 

In  February,  1849,  Mr.  Fillmore  resigned  his  office  as 
Comptroller  of  New  York,  and  proceeded  to  Washington  to 
assume  the  duties  of  his  new  office. 

The  inauguration  which  took  place  on  Monday,  the  5th  of 
March,  1849,  was  an  occasion  of  unusual  ceremony  and  festiv 
ity.  Multitudes  of  citizens  had  assembled  in  Washington  from 
all  parts  of  the  Union,  the  attendance  being  greater  than  at 


116  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 

the  accession  to  power  of  any  previous  administration.  Strains 
of  martial  music,  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  waving  of  hundreds 
of  flags,  and  the  thronged  procession,  bore  witness  to  the  deep 
interest  the  occasion  had  excited.  Previous  to  the  appearance 
of  the  President  elect,  the  Senate  had  convened  and  appointed 
a  temporary  president.  The  diplomatic  corps  entered  in  their 
rich  and  magnificent  costumes,  which  contrasted  finely  with 
the  dark  robes  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  sat 
opposite  to  them. 

Mr.  Dallas,  the  late  Vice-president,  had  been  for  some  time  in 
the  chamber,  his  hair  of  snowy  whiteness  and  his  perfect  gen 
tlemanly  figure,  naturally  attracting  attention.  He  occupied 
a  seat  in  front  of  the  secretary's  table  facing  the  Senators. 
Presently  Mr.  Dallas  was  observed  to  retire,  and  in  the  course 
of  a  few  minutes  he  was  seen  re-entering  the  chamber  in  com 
pany  with  Mr.  Fillmore,  whom  he  conducted  to  the  chair  of 
the  Senate.  The  future  presiding  officer  of  that  body  took  the 
vacant  seat  of  his  predecessor,  where  the  oath  of  office  was  ad 
ministered  to  him  by  the  president  pro  tempore,  when  amid 
profound  stillness  he  delivered,  in  the  calm  and  dignified  man 
ner  for  which  he  is  distinguished,  the  following  brief  address : 

"SENATORS:  Never  having  been  honored  with  a  seat  on 
this  floor,  and  never  having  acted  as  the  presiding  officer  of 
any  legislative  body,  you  will  not  doubt  my  sincerity  when  I 
assure  you  that  I  assume  the  responsible  duties  of  this  chair 
with  a  conscious  want  of  experience  and  a  just  appreciation 
that  I  shall  often  need  your  friendly  suggestions,  and  more 
often  your  indulgent  forbearance. 

"I  should  indeed  feel  oppressed  and  disheartened  did  I  not 
recollect  that  the  Senate  is  composed  of  eminent  statesmen, 
equally  distinguished  for  their  high  intellectual  endowments 
and  their  amenity  of  manners,  whose  persuasive  eloquence  is 
so  happily  tempered  with  habitual  courtesy  as  to  relieve  your 
presiding  officer  from  all  that  would  be  painful  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty,  and  render  his  position  as  agreeable  as  it  must  be 
instructive. 


PRESERVATION   OF   ORDER.  117 

"  Thus  encouraged  and  sustained,  I  enter  upon  the  duties 
assigned  me,  firmly  resolved  to  discharge  them  with  impar 
tiality  and  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  But  I  should  do  injustice 
to  the  grateful  emotions  of  my  own  heart,  if  I  did  not  on  this 
occasion  express  my  warmest  thanks  for  the  distinguished 
honor  that  has  been  conferred  upon  me  in  being  called 'by  the 
voice  of  the  nation  to  preside  over  your  deliberations. 

"It  will  not,  I  trust,  be  deemed  inappropriate  to  congratu 
late  you  on  the  scene  now  passing  before  us.  I  allude  to  it  in 
no  partisan  aspect,  but  as  an  ever  recurring  event  contemplated 
by  the  constitution.  Compare  the  peaceful  changes  of  chief 
magistrate  of  this  Republic  with  the  recent  sanguinary  revolu 
tions  in  Europe. 

"There  the  voice  of  the  people  has  only  been  heard  amid 
the  din  of  arms  and  the  horrors  of  domestic  conflicts;  but  here 
in  our  own  favored  land,  under  the  guidance  of  our  constitu 
tion,  the  resistless  will  of  the  nation  has  from  time  to  time  been 
peaceably  expressed  by  the  free  will  of  the  people,  and  all  have 
bowed  in  obedient  submission  to  their  decree. 

"The  administration  which  but  yesterday  wielded  the  desti 
nies  of  this  great  nation,  to-day  quietly  yields  up  its  power, 
and,  without  a  murmur,  retires  from  the  Capital. 

"I  congratulate  you,  Senators,  and  1  congratulate  my  country 
upon  these  oft-recurring  and  cheering  evidences  of  our  capac 
ity  for  self-government.  Let  us  hope  that  the  sublime  spec 
tacle  we  now  witness  may  be  repeated  as  often  as  the  people 
shall  desire  a  change  of  rulers,  and  that  this  venerated  consti 
tution  and  this  glorious  Union  may  endure  forever." 

Mr.  Fillmore,  while  acting  as  Vice-president,  presided  over 
the  Senate  with  a  dignity  and  urbanity  which  has  never  been, 
surpassed.  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  1826,  had  announced  to  the  Sen 
ate  his  opinion  that  the  Vice-president  had  no  authority  to  call 
Senators  to  order  for  any  violation  of  courtesy  or  transgres 
sion  of  the  rules  of  debate.  He  conformed  his  practice  to  his 
opinion,  and  it  had  became  a  settled  usage  that  a  member  was 
on  no  occasion  called  to  order  for  any  words  he  might  utter 
on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  Mr.  Fillmorp  made  a  speech  in 
which  he  explained  the  reasons  why  he  thought  that  it  was  his 


118  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 

duty  to  preserve  decorum,  and,  if  occasion  should  render  it  nec 
essary,  reverse  the  usage  of  his  predecessors.  This  determin 
ation  met  the  warm  approval  of  the  Senate,  who  ordered  Mr. 
Fillmore's  speech  to  be  entered  at  length  on  their  journal. 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  119 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MR.    FILLMORE    PRESIDENT  OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  large  territorial  acquisitions  which  were  the  conse 
quence  of  the  Mexican  war  occasioned  controversies  that  made 
the  brief  administration  of  Gen.  Baylor  a  period  of  intense 
public  excitement.  The  annexation  of  Texas,  in  which  the  war 
originated,  met  with  general  approval  in  the  Southern  States 
on  account  of  its  supposed  tendency  to  fortify  the  institution  of 
slavery.  But  if  the  territory  ceded  to  the  United  States  by 
the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe  Hidalgo  should  all  be  carved  into  free 
States,  the  ultimate  effect  of  annexation  would  be  a  great  loss 
of  power  by  the  South.  The  fact  that  a  portion  of  the  North 
ern  representatives  in  Congress  insisted  on  the  insertion  of  the 
Wilmot  Proviso  in  every  act  organizing  a  new  territory,  would 
have  been  productive  of  considerable  irritation,  even  if  there 
had  been  nothing  else  in  the  circumstances  of  the  time  to 
favor  sectional  excitement.  But  the  application  of  California  for 
admission  into  the  Union  as  a  free  State,  made  the  only  ses 
sion  of  Congress  which  took  place  under  the  administration  of 
Gen.  Taylor  one  of  the  most  exciting  that  had  occurred  in 
many  years. 

The  rapid  growth  of  California  was  without  a  parallel  in 
history.  The  discovery  of  gold  mines  of  extraordinary  rich 
ness  and  extent  had  caused  an  immense  tide  of  emigration  to 
set  toward  the  new  El  Dorado,  not  only  from  all  the  Atlantic 
States,  but  from  almost  every  quarter  of  the  world.  In  less 
than  two  years  from  the  discovery  of  her  gold  mines,  California, 


120  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

previously  almost  without  inhabitants,  had  become  more  pop 
ulous  than  some  of  the  old  States,  more  wealthy  than  sev 
eral  of  them,  and,  without  passing  through  the  usual  territorial 
pupilage,  she  had  formed  a  State  constitution,  organized  a  State 
government,  and  was  applying  for  admission  as  one  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  federal  Union.  It  was  objected  that  her  proceed 
ings  were  irregular,  that  her  territory  was  too  large  for  a  single 
State,  and  that  her  boundaries  had  been  assumed  without  the 
authority  of  Congress.  Under  different  circumstances,  these 
objections  would  have  had  but  little  influence,  considering  the 
urgent  necessity  which  existed  for  a  government  of  some  kind. 

»D  J 

California  had,  at  that  time,  no  authorized  government  either  ter 
ritorial  or  state ;  and  yet  from  the  heterogeneous  character  of 
her  population  and  the  absence  of  social  restraints,  no  commu 
nity  stood  in  greater  need  of  a  firm  and  regular  government 
strictly  enforced. 

The  question  really  in  dispute  related  to  the  balance  of 
power  between  the  slaveholding  and  the  non-slaveholding 
States.  States  had  for  many  years  been  admitted  into  the 
Union  by  pairs,  one  from  each  section  of  the  country;  and 
when  California  adopted  her  constitution  the  two  classes  of 
States  had,  for  a  long  period,  possessed  an  equal  representation 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  When  she  applied  for  admission 
as  a  free  State,  there  was  no  slave  State,  either  forming  or 
likely  to  be  formed,  to  balance  'her.  From  a  more  rapid 
growth  of  population  the  North  had  long  had  a  growing  pre 
ponderance  in  the  lower  branch  of  Congress,  and  if  California 
were  admitted  as  a  free  State  the  South  would  be  in  a  minor 
ity  in  both  Houses,  and  without  any  power  of  effectual  resist 
ance  to  legislative  measures,  which  it  might  consider  hostile 
to  its  interests.  The  Northern  majority  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  was  certain  to  go  on  increasing,  and  if  the  equilib 
rium  of  the  Senate  were  once  destroyed,  there  was  no  ground 
to  hope  that  it  could  ever  be  recovered.  The  admission  of 


ADMISSION    OF   CALIFORNIA.  121 

California  into  the  Union  as  a  free  State,  therefore,  seemed  to 
place  Southern  rights  and  interests  forever  afterward  at  the 
mercy  of  the  North. 

It  was  this  state  of  things  which  gave  so  deep  a  significance 
to  the  admission  of  California,  and  rendered  it  the  occasion  of 
such  earnest  and  vehement  controversy.  It  was  foreseen  that 
the  South  would  struggle  against  it  as  if  its  very  existence  were 
in  peril,  for  in  all  future  legislation  involving  the  question  of 
slavery  it  was  regarded  as  a  death  blow  to  its  interests.  If 
California  were  admitted,  the  South  could  see  no  safety  except 
in  secession  from  the  Union. 

Mr.  Clay,  with  the  far-reaching  sagacity  for  which  he  was 
distinguished,  at  once  comprehended  the  magnitude  of  the 
crisis.  He  surrendered  his  whole  mind  to  earnest  and  painful 
reflection,  with  a  view  to  discover  some  method  by  which  con 
flicting  interests  might  be  reconciled,  and  the  Union  rescued  from 
the  imminent  peril  which  threatened  its  existence.  He  clearly 
saw  that  the  loss  of  the  balance  of  power  between  the  two  sec 
tions  of  country  would  become  a  matter  of  trivial  importance 
to  the  South,  if,  together  with  the  admission  of  California, 
measures  could  be  adopted  which  would  forever  remove  all 
questions  affecting  the  interests  of  slavery  beyond  the  sphere 
of  federal  legislation.  The  South  might  reconcile  themselves 
to  the  necessity  of  passing  into  a  perpetual  minority  by  the 
admission  of  California,  if  there  could  be  coupled  with  her  ad 
mission  a  final  settlement  of  all  questions  in  which  the  interests 
of  the  two  great  sections  of  the  country  were  supposed  to  con 
flict.  It  was  with  a  view  to  accomplish  such  a  settlement, 
that  he  brought  forward  his  celebrated  Compromise  scheme, 
which  its  enemies  named,  in  derision,  the  "  Omnibus  Bill." 
It  proposed  to  admit  California  into  the  Union  as  a  free 
State ;  to  organize  territorial  governments  for  New  Mexico  and 
Utah,  leaving  the  question  of  slavery  to  the  decision  of  the  in 
habitants;  to  define  the  boundaries  of  Texas;  and  to  make 
6 


122  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

more  effectual  provision  for  enforcing  the  requirements  of  the 
constitution  relating  to  fugitives  from  labor.  The  combining 
of  so  great  a  variety  of  measures  into  one  bill,  Avas  what  led  to 
its  being  designated  as  the  "Omnibus."  Although  it  is,  with 
out  doubt,  a  sound  principle  of  legislation  that  every  measure 
ought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  stand  on  its  own  separate  merits, 
it  seemed  necessary,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  settlement 
which  Mr.  Clav  proposed,  that  these  should  stand  together. 
Whatever  might  be  the  ostensible  pretexts  for  opposing  the 
admission  of  California,  the  actual  reason  was,  that  it  destroyed 
irrecoverably  the  balance  of  power  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  States.  This  consideration  aside,  the  reasons  for  her 
admission  were  too  powerful  and  urgent  to  be  resisted.  But 
this  consideration  had  so  strong  a  tendency  to  inflame  Southern 
feeling,  that  the  measure  had  little  chance  of  success  unless  the 
others  could  be  joined  with  it.  The  South  was  not  likely  to 
relinquish,  voluntarily,  all  check  upon  legislation  affecting  sla 
very,  unless  it  could  be  assured  that  the  whole  subject  was  to 
be  withdrawn  from  future  congressional  action.  Hence  the 
importance  Mr.  Clay  attached  to  combining  all  these  separate 
measures  into  a  single  bill. 

Other  public  men,  who  were  equally  patriotic,  and  equally 
solicitous  that  all  the  distracting  questions  growing  out  of 
slavery  should  receive  a  final  settlement,  while  they  admitted 
the  importance  of  all  Mr.  Clay's  measures,  and  the  indispens 
able  necessity  for  their  all  passing,  considered  it  a  matter  of 
indifference  whether  they  were  embodied  in  a  single  bill  or 
acted  on  separately.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Webster,  who  was 
as  earnest  in  his  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  as  ardent  in  his 
efforts  for  the  restoration  of  tranquillity,  as  any  member  of  the 
Senate.  He  thought  it  due  to  California  that  she  should  be 
admitted  into  the  Union ;  to  the  South  that  the  constitutional 
provision  for  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves  should  be  enforced ; 
to  the  whole  country,  that  the  quarrel  between  the  citizens  of 


THE   SLAVERY   QUESTION.  123 

Texas  and  New  Mexico  should  be  settled ;  but  so  far  as  related 
to  slavery  in  the  territories,  he  thought  it  a  question  of  no 
practical  importance,  and  not  worth  the  ill  feeling  it  had  engen 
dered.  He  contended  in  one  of  the  ablest  speeches  ever 
delivered  in  Congress,  that  there  was  not  a  foot  of  teriitory 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  whose  condition,  as  re 
gards  slavery,  was  not  already  fixed  by  some  irrepealable 
law.  Neither  he  nor  any  other  statesman,  North  or  South  — 
neither  he  nor  any  other  citizen  of  any  section  of  the  country, 
supposed,  at  that  time,  that  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compro 
mise  would  ever  be  proposed,  much  less  ever  become  possible ; 
and  when  he  called  it  an  irrepealable  law  excluding  slavery 
from  all  territory  north  of  an  established  line,  nobody  ques 
tioned  or  doubted  that,  as  far  as  that  went,  he  was  perfectly 
correct.  Nobody  could  then  have  foreseen  so  gross  a  political 
blunder,  such  a  wanton  violation  of  good  faith,  as  has  since 
been  committed  by  a  Democratic  administration,  and  sanctioned 
by  the  Democratic  party.  With  regard  to  the  terri  Lories  to 
which  the  Missouri  compromise  did  not  apply,  slavery  was  ex 
cluded  from  some  of  them  by  positive  enactment,  and  from 
the  others  by  laws  equally  operative  and  entirely  irrepealable. 
As  there  was  nothing  which  was  susceptible  of  alteration  in 
any  territory  belonging  to  the  United  States,  so  far  related 
to  the  existence  of  slavery  in  it,  Mr.  Webster  judged  correctly 
that  agitation  on  this  subject  was  as  idle  as  it  was  mischievous. 
But  whatever  foundation  there  might  be  for  agitation,  whether 
much  or  little,  he  considered  it  important  that  a  period  should 
be  put  to  it.  At  the  death  of  Gen.  Taylor,  Congress  had  been 
in  session  upward  of  seven  months,  and  the  whole  time  had 
been  consumed  in  discussions  relating  to  slavery.  Not  to  dwell 
on  the  violent  sectional  animosities  which  such  discussions  can 
not  fail  to  excite,  this  neglect  of  the  usual  business  of  leg 
islation  is  in  itself  a  great  evil.  It  is  a  great  evil  to  have 
the  wheels  of  useful  legislation  blocked  by  such  discussions 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

even  for  a  single  session;  but  when  the  whole  time  of  Congress 
is,  year  after  year,  wasted  in  this  mischievous  employment,  and 
all  the  great  interests  of  the  country  permitted  to  suffer  for 
want  of  necessary  legislation,  it  is  high  time  that  so  troublesome 
and  pernicious  a  topic  should  be  withdrawn  from  national  poli 
tics.  This  was  the  general  feeling  of  patriotic  men  in  1850, 
and  although  many  statesmen  thought  the  separate  portions  of 
Mr.  Clay's  omnibus  bill  should  receive  separate  action,  they  did 
not  doubt  that  the  success  of  every  measure  was  necessary  to 
the  tranquillity  of  the  country  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  those  discussions,  which  had  already 
continued  more  than  seven  months,  that  Gen.  Taylor  died. 
His  death  was  sudden  and  unexpected,  and  occurring  at  a  time 
when  the  public  mind  was  profoundly  agitated  and  full  of  ap 
prehension,  it  was  calculated  to  make  a  deep  impression.  It 
was  a  most  trying  and  critical  period  for  the  government  to 
pass  into  new  hands,  and  the  country  appreciated  the  difficul 
ties  which  would  surround  Gen.  Taylor's  successor. 

President  Taylor  died  on  Tuesday,  the  9th  of  July,  1850, 
at  half  past  ten  in  the  evening.  On  the  preceding  Thursday, 
which  was  the  anniversary  of  American  independence,  he  was 
in  the  enjoyment  of  his  usual  health,  and  attended  the  cele 
bration  of  the  day  at  the  Washington  Monument.  The  oration 
was  long,  and  the  President  listened  to  it  with  his  head  uncov 
ered,  exposed  to  a  breeze  which  it  was  feared  at  the  time 
mio-ht  be  detrimental  to  his  health.  Next  morning  he  was  at 
tacked  with  cholera  morbus;  remittent  fever  supervened;  the 
disease  baffled  all  the  skill  of  able  physicians,  and  an  hour  and  a 
half  before  midnight  on  Tuesday,  his  eyes  were  closed  in  their 
last  sleep.  He  retained  his  reason  to  the  last,  and  was  perfectly 
calm  and  tranquil.  His  last  words  were,  "  I  AM  PREPARED  — • 

I    HAVE    ENDEAVORED    TO    DO    MY    DUTY." 

Zachary  Taylor  was  born  in  Orange  county,  in  Virginia, 
in  1784.  He  early  displayed  great  energy  and  boldness  of 


PRESIDENT   TAYLOR.  125 

character,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  was  appointed  a  lieu 
tenant  in  the  army.  This  was  during  the  administration  of 
President  Jefferson.  In  1812,  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain, 
and  after  the  declaration  of  war  with  Great  Britain  in  that 
year,  he  was  brevetted  major  by  President  Madison,  for  his 
gallant  defense  of  Fort  Harrison  against  a  large  body  of  sav 
ages.  In  1832,  he  had  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel, 
and  distinguished  himself  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  Ordered 
to  Florida  in  1836,  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  signal 
services  against  the  Seminoles,  and  was  created  brevet  brigadier 
general  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  forces  in 
Florida.  He  was  afterward  transferred  to  the  command  of  the 
division  of  the  army  on  the  south-western  frontier; was  ordered 
to  Texas  in  1845;  advanced  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
and,  in  the  early  part  of  the  Mexican  war,  won  battles  whose 
names  are  household  words  at  every  American  fireside. 

When,  as  a  reward  for  illustrious  services  in  the  field,  he 
was  called  by  an  admiring  and  grateful  people  to  the  head  of  the 
government,  he  exhibited  patriotism,  honesty  and  good  sense, 
united  with  a  kindness  and  benignity  of  temper  which  en 
deared  him  to  his  countrymen. 

On  the  tenth  of  July,  the  next  day  after  the  decease  of 
Gen.  Taylor,  Mr.  Fillmore  sent  to  the  Senate  a  brief  message 
announcing  that  he  should  no  longer  act  as  their  presiding  offi 
cer,  and  another  relating  to  the  death  of  President  Taylor,  which 
we  copy  : 

"WASHINGTON,  July  10th,  1850. 

"Fellow -citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives : —  I  have  to  perform  the  melancholy  duty  of  an 
nouncing  to  you  that  it  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  remove 
from  this  life  Zachary  Taylor,  late  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  deceased  last  evening  at  the  hour  of  half-past  ten 
o'clock,  in  the  midst  of  his  family,  and  surrounded  by  affectien- 
ate  friends,  calmly,  and  in  the  full  possession  of  all  his  facul 
ties.  Among  his  last  words  were  these,  which  he  uttered  with 


126  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

emphatic  distinctness:  'I  have  always  done  my  duty  —  I  am 
ready  to  die;  my  only  regret  is  for  the  friends  I  leave  be 
hind  me.' 

"Having  announced  to  you,  fellow- citizens,  this  most  afflict 
ing  bereavement,  and  assuring  you  that  it  has  penetrated  no 
heart  with  deeper  grief  than  mine,  it  remains  for  me  to  say 
that  I  propose  this  day,  at  twelve  o'clock,  in  the  hall  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  in  the  presence  of  both  houses  of  Congress, 
to  take  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  constitution,  to  enable  me  to 
enter  on  the  execution  of  the  office  which  this  event  has  de 
volved  on  me. 

"  MILLARD  FILLMORE." 

Mr.  Webster  then  submitted  the  following  resolutions  which 
were  unanimously  agreed  to: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  two  houses  will  assemble  this  day  in 
the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  at  twelve  o'clock,  to  be 
present  at  the  administration  of  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  con 
stitution  to  the  late  Vice-president  of  the  United  States,  to  ena 
ble  him  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  office  of 
President  of  the  United  States,  devolved  on  him  by  the  death 
of  Zachary  Taylor,  late  President  of  the  United  States. 

"Resolved,  That  the  secretary  of  the  Senate  present  the 
above  resolution  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  ask  its 
concurrence  therein." 

A  message  was  then  received  from  the  House  of  Represent 
atives  transmitting  a  resolution  and  requesting  the  concurrence 
of  the  Senate.  The  resolution  was  as  follows : 

"Resolved,  That  the  lion.  Messrs.  Winthrop,  Morse,  and 
Morehead,  be  appointed  a  committee  on  the  part  of  this  House, 
to  join  such  a  committee  as  may  be  appointed  by  the  Senate, 
to  wait  on  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  inform  him 
that  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  will  be  in  read 
iness  to  receive  him  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
this  day,  at  twelve  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  witnessing  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  constitution  to  enable 
him  to  enter  upon  the  execution  of  the  office." 


DEATH  OF  PRESIDENT  TAYLOR.         127 

The  Senate  concurred  in  the  resolution,  appointed  Mr. 
Soule,  Mr.  Davis,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Underwood,  a 
committee  on  their  part,  and  ordered  their  secretary  to  notify 
the  House  of  Representatives  accordingly. 

Mr.  Soule  afterward  informed  the  Senate  that  the  committee 
appointed  to  wait  on  the  President  had  performed  the  duty 
assigned  them,  and  that  they  had  been  informed  by  the  Pres 
ident  that  he  would  take  the  oath  of  office  at  twelve  o'clock,  in 
the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  that  he  desired  the 
attendance  of  the  Senate.  Whereupon  the  Senate  proceeded 
to  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

In  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  after  the  appear 
ance  of  the  Senate,  the  President  entered  accompanied  by  the 
cabinet,  the  members  remaining  standing  as  a  mark  of  respect. 
The  oath  was  administered  by  Judge  C ranch,  and  after  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  cabinet  and  the  Senate  had 
retired,  the  speaker  announced  that  he  had  received  another 
messao-e  from  the  President.  It  was  then  read  as  follows: 


o 


"WASHINGTON,  July  10th,  1850. 

"Fellow-citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives: —  A  great  man  has  fallen  among  us,  and  a  whole 
country  is  called  to  an  occasion  of  unexpected  deep  and  gen 
eral  mourning. 

"I  recommend  to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  to  adopt  such 
measures  as  in  their  discretion  may  seem  proper,  to  perform 
with  due  solemnity  the  funeral  obsequies  of  Zachary  Taylor, 
late  President  of  the  United  States;  and  thereby  to  signify  the 
great  and  affectionate  regard  of  the  American  people  for  the 
memory  of  one  whose  life  has  been  devoted  to  the  public  ser 
vice;  whose  career  in  arms  has  not  been  surpassed  in  useful 
ness  or  brilliancy;  who  has  been  so  recently  raised  by  the 
unsolicited  voice  of  the  people  to  the  highest  civil  authority  in 
the  government,  which  he  administered  with  so  much  honor 
and  advantage  to  his  country ;  and  by  whose  sudden  death  so 
many  hopes  of  future  usefulness  have  been  blighted  forever. 

"To  you,  Senators  and  Representatives  of  a  nation  in  tears, 


128  BIOGEAPHY    OF   MILLA.BD   FILLMOEE. 

I  can  say  nothing  which  can  alleviate  the  sorrow  with  which 
you  are  oppressed. 

"I  appeal  to  you  to  aid  me  under  the  trying  circumstances 
which  surround,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties,  from  which, 
however  much  I  may  be  oppressed  by  them,  I  dare  not  shrink ; 
and  I  rely  upon  Him,  who  holds  in  his  hands  the  destinies  of 
nations,  to  endow  me  with  the  requisite  strength  for  the  task, 
and  to  avert  from  our  country  the  evils  apprehended  from  the 
heavy  calamity  which  has  befallen  us. 

"I  shall  most  readily  concur  in  whatever  measures  the  wis 
dom  of  the  two  Houses  may  suggest,  as  befitting  this  deeply 
melancholy  occasion.  "MILLARD  FILLMORE." 

The  funeral  of  President  Taylor  was  celebrated  on  Saturday 
the  13th  of  July,  with  solemn  ceremonies  befitting  the  high 
character  and  official  dignity  of  the  deceased. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  agitating  controversy  in 
Congress  during  the  pending  of  which  Gen.  Taylor  was  stricken 
down  by  a  dispensation  of  providence,  leaving  the  country  in 
a  condition  so  critical  as  to  devolve  an  immense  weight  of  re 
sponsibility  on  his  constitutional  successor.  To  add  to  the  em 
barrassment  of  President  Fillmore,  the  cabinet  immediately 
tendered  their  resignation,  and  the  first  question  he  had  to  con 
sider  was  whether  he  would  solicit  their  continuance  in  office 
or  appoint  a  new  cabinet. 

It  was  understood  that  the  cabinet  of  Gen.  Taylor  were 
opposed  to  Mr.  Clay's  omnibus  bill,  then  pending  in  the  Sen 
ate,  with  a  great  deal  of  doubt  hanging  over  its  success.  The 
President  approved,  in  the  main,  of  the  measures  embodied  in 
that  bill,  and  thought  it  his  duty  to  favor  their  adoption.  He 
rightly  thought  that  on  questions  so  important  there  should  be 
no  difference  of  opinion  between  the  President  and  his  consti 
tutional  advisers,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  cabinet 
who  would  sustain  him  in  the  course  he  had  determined  to 
adopt,  and  whose  reputation  was  identified  with  his  success. 
He  therefore  decided  to  accept  the  resignation  of  Gen.  Taylor's 
cabinet,  and  appoint  a  new  one. 


THE  NEW   CABINET.  129 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    COMPROMISE    MEASURES    AND    FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAW. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  ten  days  after  President  Fillmore  took 
the  oath  of  office,  he  transmitted  to  the  Senate  a  message  nom 
inating  the  following  named  gentlemen  as  his  cabinet : 

DANIEL  WEBSTER,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of  State. 
THOMAS  CORWIN,  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
JAMES  A.  PEARCE,  of  Maryland,  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 
WILLIAM  A.  GRAHAM,  of  North  Carolina,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy. 

EDWARD  BATES,  of  Missouri,  Secretary  of  War. 
NATHAN  K.  HALL,  of  New  York,  Postmaster-General. 
JOHN  J.  CRITTENDEN,  of  Kentucky,  Attorney-General. 

This  cabinet  embodied  eminent  ability,  large  experience  in 
public  affairs,  and  great  weight  of  character.  The  nominations 
were  all  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  but  Mr.  Pearce  and  Mr. 
Bates  were  prevented  by  circumstances  from  accepting  the 
places  tendered  them.  After  some  delay,  Alexander  H.  II. 
Stuart,  of  Virginia,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
and  C.  M.  Conrad,  of  Louisiana,  Secretary  of  War. 

Only  a  few  days  elapsed  after  Mr.  Fillmore's  accession  to  the 
presidency,  before  the  "omnibus  bill"  was  brought  to  a  vote  in 
the  Senate  and  defeated. 

Affairs  were  now  rapidly  approaching  a  crisis  which  de 
manded  the  calmest  wisdom  united  with  the  greatest  firmness. 
Strong  anti-slavery  conventions  were  held  in  the  North ;  equally 
6* 


130  BIOGRAPHY   OF    MILLAKD    FILLMORE. 

strong  secession  conventions  were  held  in  the  South ;  the  spirit 
of  sectional  strife  seemed  arming  itself  for  a  mighty  conflict. 
The  Senators  arid  Representatives  from  California  had  became 
weary  of  their  long  waiting  at  Washington  knocking  at  the 
doors  of  Congress ;  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  in  the  midst  of  an 
angry  controversy  relative  to  their  boundaries,  were  arming 
for  civil  war;  the  disaffected  South  was  ready  to  sustain  Texas 
in  her  claims ;  and  it  became  necessary  for  the  general  gov 
ernment  to  protect  New  Mexico  against  armed  invasion  by 
that  State. 

The  President  ordered  theTequisite  military  force  and  mu 
nitions  of  war  to  be  put  in  motion  for  New  Mexico,  and  on  the 
sixth  of  August,  1850,  he  sent  a  message  to  Congress  advising 
that  body  of  the  imminent  danger  of  a  collision,  and  urging,  in 
the  strongest  terms,  a  speedy  settlement  of  the  controversy. 
Congress  appreciated  the  danger,  renewed  its  efforts  to  settle 
the  vexed  questions,  and  soon  passed  the  several  acts  by  which 
California  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State;  the  bound 
ary  line  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico  defined,  and  an 
indemnity  provided  for  the  claim  of  Texas;  territorial  govern 
ments  established  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah ;  the  slave  trade 
abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia;  and  more  effectual 
provision  made  for  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves.  These 
have  since  been  collectively  designated  as  the  ''compromise 
measures." 

The  President  had  some  doubt  whether  the  fugitive  slave 

<D 

act  did  not  conflict  with  the  provision  of  the  constitution  re 
lating  to  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  referred  the  subject  to 
the  Attorney- General.  Attorney-General  Crittenden  prepared 
a  written  opinion,  in  which  he  showed  by  a  clear  and  conclu 
sive  argument,  supported  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  bill  submitted  to  him, 
which  is  in  conflict  with  the  constitution,  or  which  suspends 
or  was  intended  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  It  is  a 


131 

well  known  and  admitted  fact,  proved  by  abundant  historical 
evidence,  and  assumed  in  all  judicial  decisions  relating  to  the 
subject,  that  the  clause  of  the  constitution  which  requires  the 
surrender  of  fugitive  slaves  was  intended  to  secure  to  the  citi 
zens  of  slaveholding  States  complete  ownership  in  their  slaves 
in  every  State  or  territory  of  the  Union  into  which  they  might 
escape.  It  devolved  on  the  general  government  to  make  that 
security  effectual,  and  accordingly  the  act  of  1793  was  passed, 
which,  so  far  as  it  respects  any  constitutional  question  that 
can  arise  out  of  it,  is  identical  with  the  bill  submitted  to  the 
Attorney- General  for  his  opinion.  It  authorized  the  like  arrest 
of  the  fugitive  slave,  the  like  trial,  the  like  judgment,  the  like 
certificate,  with  the  like  authority  to  the  owner,  by  virtue  of 
that  certificate  as  his  warrant,  to  remove  him  to  the  State  or 
territory  from  which  he  escaped.  And  yet  the  constitutional 
ity  of  the  act  of  1793  has  been  affirmed  by  the  adjudications 
of  State  tribunals,  and  by  the  courts  of  the  United  States, 
without  a  single  instance  of  dissent.  The  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  has  decided  that,  independent  of  any  aid 
from  legislation,  the  owner  of  a  fugitive  slave  may,  in  virtue 
of  the  constitution  and  his  own  right  of  property,  seize  and 
re-capture  him  in  any  State  or  territory  in  which  he  may  find 
him,  and  carry  him  back  to  the  place  from  which  he  escaped. 
The  bill  under  consideration,  therefore,  conferred  no  right  on 
the  owner  of  a  fugitive  slave,  but  only  gave  him  an  appointed 
and  peaceable  remedy,  in  place  of  the  more  exposed  and  in 
secure,  but  not  less  lawful  mode  of  self-redress.  The  fugitive 
has  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  bill,  for  it  adds  no  coercion 
to  that  which  the  owner  of  the  slave  might  himself  exercise 
without  any  resort  to  legal  process.  It  is  in  fact  a  benefit  to 
the  fugitive  so  far  as  it  interposes  judicial  authority  between 
him  and  the  power  of  his  owner. 

With  regard  to  whether  this  act  suspended  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  which  was  the  point  to  which  the  President  had 


132  BIOGEAPIIY    OF   MILLAED   FILLMOEE. 

more  particularly  called  his  attention,  the  Attorney-General 
was  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  there  was  no  incompatibility 
between  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill  and  the  privilege  of 
that  writ,  in  its  utmost  constitutional  latitude.  It  is  not  within  the 
privilege  or  province  of  that  great  writ  to  loose  those  whom 
the  law  has  bound,  but  to  discharge  persons  from  illegal  custody. 
The  writ  follows  the  law  and  obeys  the  law.  If  on  application 
for  this  writ  it  shall  appear  to  the  court  or  judge  that  the  con 
finement  of  the  person  asking  for  it  is  lawful,  the  writ  will  al 
ways  be  refused.  If  a  person  is  in  custody  by  the  decision  of 
a  court  from  which  there  is  no  appeal,  the  decision  itself  is  to 
be  regarded  as  conclusive  evidence  that  the  confinement  is 
legal,  and  not  only  can  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  not  discharge 
him,  but  no  court  or  judge  has  any  authority  to  grant  it. 
There  is  no  process  or  tribunal  by  which  the  decisions  of  a 
court  of  last  resort  can  be  reviewed,  and  there  is  nothing  in 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  by  which  they  can  be  set  aside. 

A  provision  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  requires 
that  fugitive  slaves  shall  be  surrendered  to  their  owners.  The 
bill  for  their  rendition  was  intended  to  enforce  this  requirement. 
It  constitutes  a  tribunal  with  exclusive  jurisdiction  to  determine 
summarily  and  without  appeal,  who-  are  fugitive  slaves.  The 
judgment  of  every  tribunal  of  exclusive  jurisdiction,  where  no 
appeal  lies,  is  of  necessity  conclusive  upon  every  other  tribunal ; 
and  therefore  the  judgment  of  the  tribunal  created  by  the 
fugitive  slave  act  is  conclusive  upon  all  the  tribunals.  When 
ever  this  judgment  is  made  to  appear,  it  is  conclusive  of  the 
right  of  the  owner  to  retain  in  his  custody  the  fugitive  from 
his  service,  and  to  remove  him  back  to  the  State  from  which 
he  escaped.  If  it  is  shown  on  the  application  of  the  fugitive 
slave  for  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  it  prevents  the  issuing  of 
the  writ  —  if  upon  the  return,  it  discharges  the  writ  and  re 
stores  or  maintains  the  custody. 

Such  is  the  substance  of  the  reasoning  by  which  the  Attorney- 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  133 

General  supported  his  opinion,  and  being  satisfactory  to  the 
President  as  to  the  constitutional  question,  he  signed  the  fugi 
tive  slave  law,  as  well  as  the  other  bills  previously  enumerated, 
and  known  as  "  the  compromise  measures." 

The  act  for  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves  was  immediately 
attacked  with  great  violence  by  the  anti-slavery  party  of  the 
North.  Slaves  were  rescued  from  the  custody  of  the  United 
States  marshals  at  Boston,  Syracuse,  and  at  Christiana,  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  and,  in  the  last  named  of  these  places, 
one  or  two  persons  were  killed.  The  President  avowed  his 
intention  to  execute  the  law.  When  intelligence  of  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Boston  mob  reached  Washington,  the  President 
issued  his  proclamation  calling  upon  all  officers  to  do  their  duty, 
and  prosecutions  were  instituted  against  the  rioters,  but  the 
prejudices  of  the  jury  and  the  difficulty  of  identifying  the 
criminals  generally  enabled  them  to  escape.  At  Syracuse 
one  was  convicted,  but  he  died  before  sentence  was  passed 
upon  him. 

The  vehemence  with  which  the  fugitive  slave  act  was  as 
sailed,  renders  it  proper  that  we  should  explain  its  necessity 
more  fully  than  would  otherwise  be  consistent  with  our  limits. 
The  President  was  denounced  for  having  given  it  his  approval, 
was  even  threatened  with  violence  in  anonymous  communica 
tions,  and  the  most  strenuous  exertions  were  made  to  induce 
the  people  to  resist  the  execution  of  the  law  by  force. 

The  opposition  which  was  ostensibly  directed  against  the 
law,  was  really  aimed  at  the  provision  of  the  constitution 
which  the  law  was  intended  to  enforce.  It  was  considered  more 
decorous  to  assail  a  particular  act  of  legislation  than  to  make 
an  open  declaration  of  hostility  against  the  constitution  of  the 
country;  but  the  transactions  of  this  period  will  be  wholly 
misconceived  unless  we  look  beneath  the  pretences  of  the  anti- 
slavery  party,  and  discern  the  motives  by  which  they  were 
actually  governed. 


134:  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

The   constitution  of   the  United  States  declares  that  "  no 

•  person   held  to  service   or  labor  in  one  State  under  the  laws 

thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any  law 

,, or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor, 

but  SHALL  be  delivered  up  on  the  claim  of  the  party  to  whom 

such  service  or  labor  may  be  due." 

That  the  real  ground  of  opposition  to  the  fugitive  slave  law 
was  a  wish  to  defeat  this  provision  of  the  constitution,  is  proved 
by  the  fact,  that  in  the  violent  attempts  to  rescue  negroes  from 
their  claimants,  there  was  scarcely  a  case  in  which  there  was 
any  reasonable  doubt  that  the  person  claimed  was  actually 
a  fugitive  slave — that  he  was  really  one  of  those  persons  whom 
the  constitution  requires  to  be  delivered  up  on  the  claim  of  the 
owner. 

Another  reason  for  supposing  the  opposition  was  aimed  at 
the  constitution  itself,  is  found  in  the  admissions  and  avowals 
of  the  anti-slavery  party  itself.  There  would  perhaps  be  an 
unfairness  in  quoting  the  language  of  obscure  and  irresponsi 
ble  members  of  the  party;  we  will  therefore  draw  our  proofs 
from  the  speeches  of  the  ablest  and  most  respected  of  its  re 
cognized  leaders.  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  has  for 
many  years  been  regarded  as  the  leading  anti-slavery  man  of 
the  Northern  States,  and  the  principal  expounder  of  anti-slavery 
doctrines.  He  has  repeatedly  declared  his  opposition  to  that 
provision  of  the  constitution  which  requires  the  surrender  of 
fugitive  slaves.  In  a  speech  delivered  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in 
1848,  Mr.  Seward  said:  "It  is  written  in  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States  that  five  slaves  shall  count  equal  to  three 
free  men,  as  a  basis  of  representation ;  it  is  also  written,  in 
violation  of  the  Divine  law,  that  we  shall  surrender  the  fugitive 
slave  who  takes  refuge  at  our  fireside  from  his  relentless 
pursuers."  * 

*  Seward's  Works,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  300. 


135 

In  the  same  speech  Mr.  Seward  exhorts  his  hearers  to  use 
their  efforts  to  defeat  the  operation  of  that  provision  of  the 
constitution  which  he  had  told  them  was  "  in  violation  of  th<£ 
Divine  law."  He  said :  "  Inculcate,  then,  the  law  of  freedom 
and  the  equal  rights  of  man ;  reform  your  own  code  —  extend 
a  cordial  welcome  to  the  fugitive  who  lays  his  weary  limbs  at 
your  door,  and  defend  him  a&you  would  your  paternal  gods; 
correct  your  own  error  that  slavery  has  any  constitutional 
guaranty  which  may  not  be  released,  and  ought  not  to  be  re 
linquished.  Say  to  slavery  when  it  shows  its  bond  and  demands 
the  pound  of  flesh,  that  if  it  draws  one  drop  of  blood,  its  life 
shall  pay  the  forfeit."  *  It  is  impossible  to  mistake  the  mean 
ing  of  this  reference  to  the  bond  of  Shylock  in  Shakspeare's 
Merchant  of  Venice.  The  "  bond  "  is  that  provision  in  the 
constitution  which  he  had  declared  to  be  "  in  violation  of  the 
Divine  law,"  and  the  advice  is  to  thwart  its  operation  by  sub 
tleties  of  interpretation  which  would  render  its  execution  impos 
sible.  The  speech  from  which  these  quotations  are  made,  was 
republished  in  1853,  with  Mr.  Se ward's  approbation,  in  his  col 
lected  works,  and  is  introduced  by  the  editor  in  terms  of  the 
highest  commendation. 

In  the  year  1850,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Mr. 
Seward  again  asserts  that  the  provision  of  the  constitution 
relating  to  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  is  of  no  binding 
force.  In  his  speech  on  the  admission  of  California  —  a  speech, 
which  he  had  prepared  with  great  care  —  he  said:  "Your 
constitution  and  laws  convert  hospitality  to  the  refugee  from 
the  most  degrading  oppression  on  earth  into  a  crime,  but  all 
mankind  except  you  esteem  that  hospitality  a  virtue.  *  *  * 
I  know  of  only  two  compacts  found  in  diplomatic  history  that 
admitted  the  extradition  of  slaves.  Here  is  one  of  them." 
(He  then  quotes  from  an  old  treaty  between  Russia  and  the 

*  Seward's  Works,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  301. 


BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLARD  FILLMOKE. 

Greek  Emperors  of  Constantinople,  and  says):  "This  was  in 
the -year  of  Grace,  902,  in  the  period  called  the  'Dark  Ages,' 
and  the  contracting  powers  were  despotisms.  And  here  is  the 
other."  (After  quoting  it,  he  says):  "This  is  from  the  con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  in  1787,  and  the  parties  were 
the  republican  States  of  this  Union.  The  laiv  of  nations  dis 
avows  such  compacts  —  the  law  of  nature  written  on  the  hearts 
and  consciences  of  men  REPUDIATES  them."  *  Further  on  in 
the  same  speech  he  said:  "But  you  answer  that  the  Constitu 
tion  recognizes  property  in  slaves.  It  would  be  sufficient  then 
to  reply,  that  this  constitutional  recognition  must  be  void,  be 
cause  it  is  repugnant  to  the  law  of  nature  and  of  nations."  * 

These  quotations  are  sufficient  to  show  that  the  violent 
hostility  which  was  directed  against  the  law  of  1850,  would 
have  been  equally  violent  against  any  law  which  effectually 
carried  out  the  provision  of  the  constitution.  In  fact,  the  act 
of  1793,  which  was  signed  by  Washington,  was  formerly  de 
nounced  in  much  the  same  manner  as  that  of  1850  has  been 
since  its  passage. 

Neither  the  law  of  1793,  nor  that  of  1850,  nor  indeed  any 
enactment  on  the  subject,  is  defensible,  except  on  the  supposi 
tion  that  the  provision  of  the  constitution  relating  to  fugitives 
is  of  binding  obligation,  and  that  under  it  the  owner  of  a  fugi 
tive  is  really  entitled  to  have  his  property  restored  to  him. 
All  argument  in  defense  of  any  efficient  law  on  the  subject  is 
perfectly  idle  when  addressed  to  those  who,  like  Mr.  Seward 
and  his  followers,  consider  that  constitutional  provision  "  in 
violation  of  the  Divine  law,"  and  suppose  it  is  therefore  their 
duty  to  "repudiate"  it.  As  President  of  the  United  States, 
Mr.  Fillmore  had  taken  a  solemn  oath  to  support  the  constitu 
tion,  and  as  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  violate  his  oath,  his 
approval  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  must  be  judged  by  its 

*  Scward's  Works,  Vol.  I,  pp.  65,  66,  and  71. 


THE    FUGITIVE   SLAVE    LAW.  137 

conformity  to  the  constitution,  and   not  by  the  principles  of 
"the  higher  law." 

By  those  who  admit  the  binding  force  of  the  constitution, 
the  principal  objection  to  the  law  of  1850  is,  that  the  proceed 
ings  under  it  are  summary.  In  judging  of  the  validity  of  this 
objection,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  provision  for 
the  surrender  of  fugitives  from  labor  stands  in  the  constitution 
coupled  with  one  for  the  surrender  of  fugitives  from  justice. 
In  the  case  of  fugitives  from  justice,  the  proceedings  are  al 
ways  summary,  both  in  cases  arising  under  the  constitution 
and  those  arising  under  treaties  with  ,foreign  nations  for  the 
surrender  of  such  fugitives.  The  alleged  criminal  is  arrested 
for  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  State  from  which  he  has 
fled,  and  it  conforms  to  reason  that  the  laws  of  a  State  should 
be  administered  by  its  own  tribunals.  When  a  fugitive  from 
justice  is  surrendered,  the  proceedings  are  therefore  always 
summary  and  preliminary,  and  the  prisoner  is  carried  for  trial 
to  the  State  or  country  whose  laws  he  has  violated.  In  the 
case  of  a  fugitive  from  labor,  the  same  principle  applies.  The 
constitutional  provision  reads,  "  No  person  held  to  service  or 
labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  an 
other,'*  etc.  As  he  is  made  a  slave  by  the  laws  of  the  State 
from  which  he  has  escaped,  the  tribunals  of  that  State  are 
deemed  the  appropriate  ones  for  determining  the  question  of 
his  liberty.  The  principles  of  freedom  as  much  require  that 
a  fugitive  from  justice  shall  have  a  trial  before  he  is  surren 
dered  to  his  claimant,  as  they  do  that  a  fugitive  from  labor 
shall  have  such  a  trial.  In  all  the  slave  States  independent 
judicial  tribunals  are  always  open  to  receive  and  decide  upon 
petitions  or  applications  for  freedom,  and  there  is  no  proof  that 
the  decisions  of  these  tribunals  are  not  always  fair  and  upright 
Under  the  act  of  1793,  the  proceedings  were  likewise  sum 
mary,  and  there  was  no  trial  by  jury.  However  desirable,  on 
some  grounds,  a  trial  by  jury  in  such  cases  might  seem,  it 


138  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAED   FILLMOEE. 

would  be  practically  impossible  in  several  of  the  non-slavehold- 
ing  States.  To  say  nothing  of  the  prejudices  of  the  jurors 
which  render  it  certain  beforehand  that  they  would  never 
agree  on  a  verdict  of  surrender,  however  clear  the  evidence 
that  the  person  was  actually  a  fugitive,  the  refusal  by  some  of 
the  States  of  the  use  of  their  jails  and  of  the  assistance  of  their 
officers,  would  make  it  impossible  to  detain  the  prisoner  while 
preparations  could  be  made  for  his  trial  and  witnesses  sum 
moned  from  a  distant  State.  The  fugitive  would  no  doubt  be 
rescued  by  a  mob  in  the  interim,  and  sent  out  of  the  country 
by  "  the  underground  railroad."  Or  even  if  the  claimant  should 
finally  recover  his  property,  he  would  incur  expenses  so  great 
that  the  provision  of  the  constitution  in  his  favor  would  be 
practically  annulled. 

,  As  President  Fillmore's  signing  the  fugitive  slave  bill  is  the 
chief  ground  of  all  the  assaults  which  have  been  made  on  his 
public  'character  from  that  day  to  this,  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  -state  the  reasons  which  rendered  that  act  necessary. 

The  act  passed  February  12th,  1793,  and  approved  by 
President  Washington,  prescribed  the  manner  in  which  fugi 
tives  should  be  claimed  and  given  up.  By  this  act  the  owner 
was  authorized  to  seize  and  arrest  his  slave  wherever  he  could 
find  him,  and  take  him  before  a  judge  of  the  United  States 
courts,  or  any  magistrate  of  a  county,  city  or  town  corporate 
in  the  State  in  which  the  arrest  was  made,  and  if  such  judge 
or  magistrate  was  satisfied  that  his  claim  was  well  founded  it 
was  made  his  duty  to  give  a  certificate  which  was  declared  to 
be  a  sufficient  warrant  for  removing  the  slave  to  the  State 
from  which  he  had  fled. 

This  law,  which  was  passed  soon  after  the  adoption  of  the 
constitution,  and  by  a  Congress  of  which  some  of  the  frame rs 
of  the  constitution  were  members,  met  with  general  approval 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Although  the  proceedings  under 
it  were  summary,  without  any  other  trial  than  an  affidavit 


TIIE    FUGITIVE   SLAVE    LAW.  139 

before  a  magistrate,  and  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars  was  im 
posed  on  any  person  who  should  knowingly  obstruct  the 
claimant  or  his  agent,  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  without  a 
division,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  majority  of 
forty-eight  to  seven.  (' 

After  the  passage  of  this  law  a  strong  sentiment  grew  up  in 
the  northern  States  in  opposition  to  slavery.  Several  States 
that  had  previously  tolerated  it  passed  acts  for  its  abolition, 
and  some  even  went  so  far  as  to  prohibit  State  officers  from 
affording  any  assistance  in  executing  the  law  of  Congress  for 
the  recovery  of  fugitives.  It  seemed  to  be  conceded  by  the 
highest  authority — the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
—  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  compel  such  assistance. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  execution  of  the  law  devolved 
on  the  judges  of  the  United  States  courts  alone;  but  they 
were  too  much  occupied  to  give  it  their  attentionr  even  if  the 
smallness  of  their  number  and  the  distances  at  which  they 
resided  apart  had  not  rendered  them  inaccessible.  The  pro 
vision  of  the  constitution,  therefore,  which  the  law  was  in 
tended  to  carry  out,  was  practically  annulled. 

A  case  illustrating  this  occurred -in  Pennsylvania,  in  1839. 
A  female  slave  from  Maryland,  who  had  escaped  into  the  State, 
was  pursued  by  the  agent  of  her  master,  arrested,  and  brought 
before  a  Pennsylvania  justice  of  the  peace.  He  declined  to 
take  cognizance  of  the  matter,  or  to  grant  the  certificate  the 
law  required,  whereupon  the  agent  took  her  home  to  her  mas 
ter  without  any  written  warrant,  was  indicted  in  Pennsylvania 
for  kidnapping,  tried  and  convicted.  He  appealed  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court.  That  tribunal  reversed  the 
judgment  of  the  Pennsylvania  court,  and  held  that  no  State 
law  could  deprive  the  owner  of  the  right  to  seize  his  slave, 
even  without  process,  and  take  him  home. 

This  decision  was  rendered  in  1843.  Not  long  afterward 
efforts  began  to  be  made  in  Congress  for  an  amendment  to  the 


140       BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLARD  FILLMORE. 

existing  law,  which  was  seen  to  be  defective  in  the  following 
particulars :  First,  it  had  not  provided  a  sufficient  number  of 
United  States  officers  for  its  execution ;  secondly,  it  had  not 
provided  for  the  arrest  of  the  fugitive  in  any  other  manner 
than  by  the  olaimant  himself;  thirdly,  it  had  made  no  adequate 
provision  to  resist  the  force  which  reckless  fanaticism  might 
bring  to  rescue  the  slave;  and  fourthly,  it  had  failed  to  define 
the  kind  of  proof  necessary  to  justify  a  certificate  for  his  sur 
render.  These  are  the  defects  which  were  sought  to  be  rem 
edied  by  the  act  of  1850. 

By  this  act  provision  was  made  for  the  appointment  of  a 
suitable  number  of  commissioners  who  are  to  have  concurrent 
jurisdiction  with  the  judges  of  the  United  States  courts  in 
hearing  and  determining  these  cases.  Process  for  the  arrest 
of  the  fugitive  is  to  be  executed  by  the  marshal  of  the  district, 
who  is  empowered  to  call  to  his  assistance  any  number  of 
persons  to  aid  him  in  the  performance  of  his  duty.  Proofs  are 
to  be  taken  by  a  court  in  the  State  from  which  the  fugitive 
has  fled,  to  establish  the  fact  that  he  owed  service  to  his  claim 
ant,  and  in  case  of  apprehended  resistance  to  his  removal  by 
his  master,  the  commissioner  is  authorized  to  direct  the  mar 
shal  to  return  him  to  the  State  whence  he  fled.  These  are 
the  leading  provisions  of  the  act  about  which  so  much  clamor 
has  been  raised,  and  we  may  safely  appeal  to  any  intelligent 
man  to  say  whether  they,  or  some  other  provisions  equally 
effective,  were  not  demanded  of  Congress  by  the  requirements 
of  the  constitution. 

The  majority  of  the  people  in  every  section  of  the  country 
respect  the  constitution  and  are  disposed  to  obey  the  laws. 
Furiously  as  the  fugitive  slave  law  was  for  a  while  resisted  by 
excited  fanatics,  it,  as  well  as  the  other  compromise  measures, 
gradually  came  to  be  acquiesced  in  by  the  general  and  almost 
unanimous  assent  of  the  country.  That  this  acquiescence  and 
the  tranquillity  which  flowed  from  it  have  since  been  disturbed, 


THE   FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAW.  Ill 

is  the  fault  of  a  Democratic  administration,  which  threw  a  new- 
brand  of  discord  among  the  States  of  this  Union  in  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  compromise. 

The  provision  of  the  constitution  for  the  surrender  of  fugi 
tive  slaves,  and  laws  enacted  for  its  enforcement,  have  encoun 
tered  so  much  intemperate  opposition,  that  we  devote  space  to 
some  extracts  from  the  opinions  of  Justice  M'Lean,  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  delivered  in  the  Pennsylvania  case,  to 
which  we  have  already  alluded;  and  in  other  cases  which  came 
before  him  in  the  Seventh  Circuit.  We  quote  these  in  prefer 
ence  to  the  opinions  of  other  members  of  the  court,  because 
Judge  M'Lean  is  widely  talked  of  as  one  of  the  gentlemen  from 
whom  the  present  anti-slavery  party  will  select  its  candidate  for 
the  presidency. 

In  the  following  argument  Judge  M'Lean  not  only  assents 
to  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  that  Congress  has  consti 
tutional  authority  to  pass  effective  laws  for  the  rendition  of 
fugitive  slaves,  but  he  overturns  the  favorite  theory  of  Mr. 
Seward  and  other  anti- slavery  leaders,  that  the  execution  of 
the  constitutional  provision  for  their  surrender  properly  belongs 
to  the  States.  We  quote  from  the  sixteenth  volume  of  Peters' 
Reports : 

"  That  the  constitution  was  adopted  in  a  spirit  of  compro 
mise,  is  matter  of  history.  And  all  experience  shows  that  to 
at.tain  the  great  objects  of  this  fundamental  law,  it  must  be 
construed  and  enforced  in  a  spirit  of  enlightened  forbearance 
and  justice.  Without  adverting  to  other  conflicting  views  and 
interests  of  the  States  represented  in  the  general  convention, 
the  subject  of  slavery  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  a  most  delicate 
and  absorbing  consideration.  In  some  of  the  States  it  was 
considered  an  evil,  and  a  strong  opposition  to  it,  in  all  its  forms, 
was  felt  and  expressed.  In  others  it  was  viewed  as  a  cherished 
right,  incorporated  into  the  social  compact  and  sacredly  guarded 
by  law. 

"  Opinions  so  conflicting,  and  which  so  deeply  pervaded  the 
elements  of  society,  could  be  brought  to  a  reconciled  action 


142  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

only  by  an  exercise  of  exalted  patriotism.  Fortunately  for  the 
country,  this  patriotism  was  not  wanting  in  the  convention  and 
in  the  States.  The  danger  of  discord  and  ruin  was  seen,  and 
felt,  and  acknowledged;  and  this  led  to  the  formation  of  the  con 
federacy.  The  constitution,  as  if,  is,  can  not  be  said  to  have  em 
bodied,  in  all  its  parts,  the  peculiar  views  of  any  great  section 
of  the  Union ;  but  it  was  adopted  by  a  wise  and  far-reaching 
conviction,  that  it  was  the  best  which,  under  the  circumstances, 
could  be  devised;  and  that  its  imperfections  would  be  lost  sight 
of,  if  not  forgotten,  in  the  national  prosperity  and  glory  which 
it  would  secure. 

"  A  law  is  better  understood  by  a  knowledge  of  the  evils 
which  led  to  its  adoption.  And  this  applies  most  strongly  to 
a  fundamental  law. 

"  At  an  early  period  of  our  history,  slavery  existed  in  all  the 
colonies ;  and  fugitives  from  labor  were  claimed  and  delivered 
up  under  a  spirit  of  comity  or  conventional  law  among  the 
colonies.  The  articles  of  confederation  contained  no  provision 
on  the  subject,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  provision 
introduced  into  the  constitution  was  the  result  of  experience 
and  manifest  necessity.  A  matter  so  delicate,  important,  and 
exciting,  was  very  properly  introduced  into  the  organic  law. 

"  Does  the  provision,  in  regard  to  the  reclamation  of  fugitive 
slaves,  vest  the  power  exclusively  in  the  federal  government? 

"  This  must  be  determined  from  the  language  of  the  consti 
tution,  and  the  nature  of  the  power. 

"  The  language  of  the  provision  is  general.  It  covers  the 
whole  ground,  not  in  detail,  but  in  principle.  The  States  are 
inhibited  from  passing  'any  law  or  regulation  which  shall  dis 
charge  a  fugitive  slave  from  the  service  of  his  master;'  and  a 
positive  duty  is  enjoined  on  them  to  deliver  him  up,  'on  claim 
of  the  party  to  whom  his  service  may  be  due.' 

"  The  nature  of  the  power  shows  that  it  must  be  exclusive. 

"  It  was  designed  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  master,  and 
against  whom  ?  Not  against  the  State,  nor  the  people  of  the 
State  in  which  he  resides;  but  against  the  people  and  the 
legislative  action  of  other  States  where  the  fugitive  from  labor 
might  be  found.  Under  the  confederation,  the  master  had  no 
legal  means  of  enforcing  his  rights  in  a  State  opposed  to 
slavery.  A  disregard  of  rights  thus  asserted  was  deeply  felt 
in  the  South.  It  produced  great  excitement,  and  would  have 


143 

led  to  results  destructive  to  the  Union.  To  avoid  this,  the 
constitutional  guarantee  was  essential. 

"  The  necessity  for  this  provision  was  found  in  the  views  and 
feelings  of  the  people  of  the  States  opposed  to  slavery ;  and 
who,  under  such  an  influence,  could  not  be  expected  favorably 
to  regard  the  rights  of  the  master.  Now,  by  whom  is  this 
paramount  law  to  be  executed  ? 

"  It  is  contended  that  the  power  to  execute  it  rests  with  the 
States.  The  law  was  designed  to  protect  the  rights  of  the 
slaveholder  against  the  States  opposed  to  those  rights;  and 
yet,  by  this  argument,  the  effective  power  is  in  the  hands  of 
those  on  whom  it  is  to  operate. 

"This  would  produce  a  strange  anomaly  in  the  history  of 
legislation.  It  would  show  an  inexperience  and  folly  in  the 
venerable  framers  of  the  constitution,  from  which,  of  all  public 
bodies  that  ever  assembled,  they  were,  perhaps,  most  exempt. 

"  The  clause  of  the  constitution  under  consideration  declares 
that  no  fugitive  from  labor  shall  be  discharged  from  such  labor, 
by  any  law  or  regulation  of  the  State  into  which  he  may  have 
fled.  Is  the  State  to  judge  of  this?  Is  it  left  for  the  State  to 
determine  what  effect  shall  be  given  to  this  and  other  parts  of 
the  provision  ? 

"  This  power  is  not  susceptible  of  division.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  fundamental  law,  and  pervades  the  Union.  The  rule 
of  action  which  it  prescribes  was  intended  to  be  the  same  in 
all  the  States.  This  is  essential  to  the  attainment  of  the  objects 
of  the  law.  If  the  effect  of  it  depended,  in  any  degree,  upon 
the  construction  of  a  State  by  legislation  or  otherwise,  its  spirit, 
if  not  its  letter,  would  be  disregarded.  This  would  not  proceed 
from  any  settled  determination  in  any  State  to  violate  the  fun 
damental  rule,  but  from  habits  and  modes  of  reasoning  on  the 
subject.  Such  is  the  diversity  of  human  judgment,  that  oppo 
site  conclusions,  equally  honest,  are  often  drawn  from  the  same 
premises.  It  is,  therefore,  essential  to  the  uniform  efficacy  of 
this  constitutional  provision  that  it  should  be  considered,  exclu 
sively,  a  federal  power.  It  is  in  its  nature  as  much  so  as  the 
power  to  regulate  commerce,  or  that  of  foreign  intercourse. 

"To  give  full  effect  to  this  provision,  was  legislation  neces 
sary?  Congress,  by  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1793,  legislated 
on  the  subject,  and  this  shows  how  this  provision  was  con 
strued  shortly  after  its  adoption :  and  the  reasons  which  were 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

deliberately  considered,  and  which  led  to  the  passage  of  the 
act,  show  clearly  that  it  was  necessary.  These  reasons  will  be 
more  particularly  referred  to  under  another  head  of  the  argu 
ment.  But  looking  only  at  the  constitution,  the  propriety,  if 
not  the  necessity,  of  legislation  is  seen. 

"  The  constitution  provides  that  the  fugitive  from  labor  shall 
be  delivered  up,  on  claim  being  made  by  the  person  entitled 
to  such  labor;  but  it  is  silent  as  to  how  and  on  whom  this 
claim  shall  be  made.  The  act  of  Congress  provides  for  this 
defect  and  uncertainty,  by  establishing  the  mode  of  procedure. 

"It  is  contended,  that  the  power  to  legislate  on  this  subject 
is  concurrently  in  the  States  and  federal  government.  That 
the  acts  of  the  latter  are  paramount,  but  that  the  acts  of  the 
former  must  be  regarded  as  of  authority,  until  abrogated  by 
the  federal  power.  Ho\v  a  power  exercised  by  one  sovereignty 
can  be  called  concurrent,  which  may  be  abrogated  by  another, 
I  can  not  comprehend.  A  concurrent  power,  from  its  nature, 
I  had  supposed  must  be  equal.  If  the  federal  government  by 
legislating  on  the  subject  annuls  all  State  legislation  on  the 
same  subject,  it  must  follow  that  the  power  is  in  the  federal 
government  and  not  in  the  State. 

"  Taxation  is  a  power  common  to  a  State  and  the  general 
government,  and  it  is  exercised  by  each  independently  of  the 
other.  And  this  must  be  the  character  of  all  concurrent 
powers. 

"  It  is  said  that  a  power  may  be  vested  in  the  federal  gov 
ernment  which  remains  dormant,  and  that  in  such  case  a  State 
may  legislate  on  the  subject.  In  the  case  supposed,  whence 
does  the  Legislature  derive  its  power?  Is  it  derived  from  the 
constitution  of  the  State,  or  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  ? 

"  If  the  power  is  given  by  the  State  constitution,  it  must 
follow  that  it  may  be  exercised  independently  of  the  federal 
power;  for  it  is  presumed  no  one  will  sanction  the  doctrine 
that  Congress,  by  legislation,  may  abridge  the  constitutional 
power  of  a  State. 

"  How  can  -the  power  of  the  State  be  derived  from  the  fed 
eral  constitution  ?  Is  it  assumed  on  the  ground  that  Congress 
having  the  power  have  failed  to  exercise  it?  Where  is  such 
an  assumption  to  end?  May  it  not  be  applied  with  equal 
force  and  propriety  to  the  whole  ground  of  federal  legislation, 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  145 

excepting  only  the  powers  inhibited  to  the  States  ?  Congress 
have  not  legislated  upon  a  certain  subject,  but  this  does  riot 
show  that  they  may  not  have  duly  considered  it.  Or,  they 
may  have  acted  without  exhausting  the  power.  Now,  in  my 
judgment,  it  is  illogical  and  unconstitutional  to  hold  that  in 
either  of  these  cases  a  kState  may  legislate. 

"  Is  this  a  vagrant  power  of  the  State,  like  a  floating  land 
warrant,  to  be  located  on  the  first  vacant  spot  that  shall  be 
found  ?  May  a  State  occupy  a  fragment  of  federal  power 
which  has  not  been  exercised,  and,  like  a  tenant  at  will,  continue 
to  occupy  it  until  it  shall  have  notice  to  quit? 

"  No  such  power  is  derived  by  implication  from  the  federal 
constitution.  It  defines  the  powers  of  the  general  government, 
and  imposes  certain  restrictions  and  duties  on  the  States.  But 
beyond  this  it  in  no  degree  affects  the  powers  of  the  States. 
The  powers  which  belong  to  a  State  are  exercised  independent 
ly.  In  its  sphere  of  sovereignty  it  stands  on  an  equality  with 
the  federal  government,  and  is  not  subject  to  its  control.  It 
would  be  as  dangerous  as  humiliating  to  the  rights  of  a  State, 
to  hold  that  its  legislative  powers  were  exercised  to  any  extent 
and  under  any  circumstances,  subject  to  the  paramount  action 
of  Congress.  Such  a  doctrine  would  lead  to  serious  and  dan 
gerous  conflicts  of  power. 

"The  act  of  1793  seems  to  cover  the  whole  constitutional 
ground.  The  third  section  provides,  'That  when  a  person  held 
to  labor  in  any  State  or  territory  of  the  United  States,  under 
the  laws  thereof,  shall  escape  into  any  other  of  the  said  States 
or  territories,  the  person  to  whom  such  labor  or  service  may 
be  due,  his  agent  or  attorney,  is  empowered  to  seize  or  arrest 
such  fugitive  from  labor,  and  to  take  him  or  her  before  any 
judge  of  the  circuit  or  district  courts  of  the  United  States  re 
siding  or  being  within  the  State,  or  before  any  magistrate  of  a 
county,  city,  or  town  corporate,  wherein  such  seizure  or  arrest 
shall  be  made,  and  upon  proof,  to  the  satisfaction  of  such  judge 
or  magistrate,  either  by  oral  testimony  or  affidavit,  &c.,  that 
the  person  so  seized  or  arrested,  doth,  under  the  laws  of  the 
State  or  territory  from  which  he  or  she  fled,  owe  service  or 
labor  to  the  person  claiming  him  or  her,  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  such  judge  or  magistrate  to  give  a  certificate  thereof  to 
such  claimant,  his  agent,  or  attorney,  which  shall  be  sufficient 
7 


146  BIOGKAPHY   OF   MILLAKD    FILLMOKE. 

warrant  for  removing  said  fugitive  to  the  State  from  which  lie 
or  she  fled.' 

"  The  fourth  section  imposes  a  penalty  on  any  person  who 
shall  obstruct  or  hinder  such  claimant,  his  agent,  or  attorney, 
&c.,  or  shall  rescue  such  fugitive,  when  so  arrested,  &c. 

"  It  seems  to  be  taken  as  a  conceded  point  in  the  argument, 
that  Congress  had  no  power  to  impose  duties  on  State  officers, 
as  provided  in  the  above  act.  As  a  general  principle  this  is 
true ;  but  does  not  the  case  under  consideration  form  an  ex 
ception?  Congress  can  no  more  regulate  the  jurisdiction  of 
State  tribunals,  than  a  State  can  define  the  judicial  power  of 
the  Union.  The  officers  of  each  government  are  responsible 
only  to  the  respective  authorities  under  which  they  are  com 
missioned.  But  do  not  the  clauses  in  the  constitution  in  re 
gard  to  fugitives  from  labor,  and  from  justice,  give  Congress 
a  power  over  State  officers,  on  these  subjects  ?  The  power  in 
both  the  cases  is  admitted  or  proved  to  be  exclusively  in  the 
federal  government. 

"  The  clause  in  the  constitution  preceding  the  one  in  relation 
to  fugitives  from  labor,  declares  that,  'A  person  charged  in 
any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime,  who  shall  flee 
from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand 
of  the  executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  tied,  be 
delivered  up  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of 
the  crime.' 

"In  the  first  section  of  the  act  of  1793,  Congress  have  pro- 
ided  that  on  demand  being  made  as  above,  'it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  executive  authority  to  cause  the  person  demanded 
to  be  arrested,'  <fec. 

"  The  constitutionality  of  this  law,  it  is  believed,  has  never 
been  questioned.  It  has  been  obeyed  by  the  governors  of 
States,  who  have  uniformly  acknowledged  its  obligation.  To 
some  demands  surrenders  have  not  been  made ;  but  the  refu 
sals  have,  in  no  instance,  been  on  the  ground  that  the  constitu 
tion  and  act  of  Congress  were  of  no  binding  force  ?  Other 
reasons  have  been  assigned. 

"Now,  if  Congress  may  by  legislation  require  this  duty  to 
be  performed  by  the  highest  State  officer,  may  they  not  on  the 
same  principle  require  appropriate  duties  in  regard  to  the  sur 
render  of  fugitives  from  labor,  by  other  State  officers?  Over 
these  subjects  the  constitutional  power  is  the  same. 


FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  147 

"In  both  cases  the  act  of  1793  defines  on  what  evidence 
the  delivery  shall  be  made.  This  was  necessary,  as  the  con 
stitution  is  silent  on  the  subject.  The  act  provides  that  on 
claim  being  made  of  a  fugitive  from  labor,  'it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  such  judge  or  magistrate  to  give  a  certificate  that  the  person 
claimed  owes  services  to  the  claimant.' 

"The  constitution  requires  'that  such  person  shall  be  deliv 
ered  up,  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  the  service  is  due.' 
Here  is  a  positive  duty  imposed;  and  Congress  have  said  in 
what  mode  this  duty  shall  be  performed.  Had  they  not  power 
to  do  so  ?  If  the  constitution  was  designed,  in  this  respect,  to 
require,  not  a  negative  but  a  positive  duty  on  the  State  and 
the  people  of  the  State  where  the  fugitive  from  labor  may  be 
found  —  of  which,  it  would  seem,  there  can  be  no  doubt  —  it 
must  be  equally  clear  that  Congress  may  prescribe  in  what 
manner  the  claim  and  surrender  shall  be  made.  I  am,  there 
fore,  brought  to  the  conclusion  that,  although,  as  a  general 
principle,  Congress  can  not  impose  duties  on  State  officers,  yet 
in  the  cases  of  fugitives  from  labor  and  justice,  they  have  the 
power  to  do  so. 

"In  the  case  of  Martin's  Lessee  v.  Hunter,  1  Wheat.  Rep. 
304,  this  court  says,  'The  language  of  the  constitution  is  im 
perative  on  the  States  as  to  the  performance  of  many  duties, 
it  is  imperative  on  the  State  legislatures  to  make  laws  pre 
scribing  the  time,  place,  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for 
senators  and  representatives,  and  for  electors  of  President  and 
Vice-president.  And  in  these,  as  well  as  in  other  cases,  Con 
gress  have  a  right  to  revise,  amend,  or  supersede  the  laws 
which  may  be  passed  by  the  State  legislatures/ 

"  Now,  I  do  not  insist  on  the  exercise  of  the  federal  power 
to  the  extent  as  here  laid  down.  I  go  no  farther  than  to  say, 
that  where  the  constitution  imposes  a  positive  duty  on  a  State 
or  its  officers  to  surrender  fugitives,  that  Congress  may  pre 
scribe  the  mode  of  proof,  and  the  duty  of  the  State  officers." 

The  opinion  from  which  we  have  made  this  extract  was  de 
livered  several  years  before  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1850. 
The  following  quotation  from  an  opinion  of  Judge  M'Lean  in 
a  case  which  came  before  him  in  Ohio,  in  1853,  fully  sustains 
the  constitutionality  of  the  act,  for  signing  which  Mr.  Fillmore 


148  BIOGEAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

lias  been  so  fiercely  denounced.  Judge  M'Leari's  well  known 
anti-slavery  sympathies  are  a  sufficient  guarantee  that  he  has 
no  bias  in  favor  of  the  law  whose  constitutionality  he  defends. 
We  quote  from  the  fifth  volume  of  M'Lean's  Reports: 

"It  is  contended  that  the  law  authorizing  the  reclamation 
of  fugitives  from  labor  is  unconstitutional;  that  the  constitu 
tion  left  the  power  with  the  States,  and  vested  no  power  on 
the  subject  in  the  federal  government. 

"This  argument  has  been  sometimes  advanced,  and  it  may 
have  been  introduced  into  one  or  more  political  platforms.  In 
regard  to  the  soundness  of  this  position,  I  will  first  refer  to  ju 
dicial  decisions.  In  the  case  of  Prigg  v.  The  State  of  Penn 
sylvania,  16  Peters'  R.  539,  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  Stales,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  affirmed  the 
doctrine,  that  this  power  was  in  the  federal  government.  A 
majority  of  them  held  that  it  was  exclusively  in  the  general 
government.  Some  of  the  judges  thought  that  a  State  might 
legislate  in  aid  of  the  act  of  Congress,  but  it  was  held  by  no 
one  of  them,  that  the  power  could  be  exercised  by  a  State, 
except  in  subordination  of  the  federal  power. 

"Every  State  court  which  has  decided  the  question,  has 
decided  it  in  accordance  with  the  view  of  the  Supreme  Court 
No  respectable  court,  it  is  believed,  has  sustained  the  view 
that  the  power  is  with  the  State.  Such  an  array  of  authority 
can  scarcely  be  found  in  favor  of  the  construction  of  any  part 
of  the  constitution,  which  has  ever  been  doubted.  But  this 
construction,  sanctioned  as  it  is  by  the  entire  judicial  power, 
State  as  well  as  federal,  has  also  the  sanction  of  the  legislative 
power. 

"The  constitution  of  the  United  States,  it  will  be  observed, 
was  formed  in  1787.  Afterward  it  was  submitted  to  the 
respective  States  for  their  ratification.  The  subject  was  not 
only  largely  discussed  in  the  federal  convention,  but  also  in 
every  State  convention.  No  question  has  ever  arisen,  in  re 
gard  to  our  federal  relations,  which  was  of  equal  importance 
to  that  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution;  none  in  our  politi 
cal  history  was  more  thoroughly  discussed.  The  men  of 
that  day  may  be  emphatically  said  to  have  understood  the 
constitution. 


FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAW.  149 

"  In  a  very  few  years  after  the  constitution  was  adopted  by 
the  States,  the  fugitive  act  of  1793  was  passed.  That  law  is 
still  in  force,  except  where  the  act  of  1850  contains  repugnant 
provisions.  In  the  Congress  which  enacted  the  act  of  1793,  it 
is  believed,  that  some  of  the  members  had  been  members  of 
the  convention.  They  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
provision  of  that  instrument.  And  by  the  passage  of  that  act 
they  exercised  the  power,  as  one  that,  belonged  to  the  federal 
government.  Here  is  a  force  of  authority,  judicial  and  legis 
lative,  which  can  not  be  found  on  any  other  seriously  litigated 
point  in  the  constitution. 

"  Such  a  weight  of  authority  is  not  to  be  shaken.  If  the 
question  is  not  to  be  considered  authoritatively  settled,  what 
part  of  that  instrument  can  ever  be  settled  ?  The  surrender  of 
fugitive  slaves  was  a  matter  deeply  interesting  to  the  slave 
States.  Under  the  confederation  there  was  no  provision  for 
their  surrender.  On  the  principles  of  comity  amongst  the 
States  the  fugitives  were  delivered  up ;  at  other  times  they 
were  protected  and  defended.  This  state  of  things  produced 
uneasiness  and  discontent  in  the  slave  States.  A  remedy  of 
this  evil,  as  it  was  called,  was  provided  in  the  constitution. 

"An  individual  who  puts  his  opinion,  as  to  the  exercise  of 
this  power,  against  the  authority  of  the  nation  in  its  legislative 
and  judicial  action,  must  have  no  small  degree  of  confidence  in 
his  own  judgment.  A  few  individuals  in  Massachusetts  may 
have  maintained,  at  one  time,  that  the  power  was  with  the 
States;  but  such  views  were,  it  is  believed,  long  since  aban 
doned,  but  they  are  re-asserted  now,  more  as  a  matter  of  ex 
pediency  than  of  principle. 

"But  whether  we  look  at  the  weight  of  authority  against 
State  power  as  asserted,  or  at  the  constitutional  provision,  we 
are  led  to  the  same  result.  The  provision  reads:  'No  person 
held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof, 
escaping  into  another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  reg 
ulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor;  but 
shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  ser 
vice  may  be  due.' 

"  This,  in  the  first  place,  is  a  federal  measure.  It  was  adop 
ted  by  the  national  convention,  and  was  sanctioned  as  a  federal 
law,  by  the  respective  States.  It  is  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land.  Now  a  provision  which  can  not  be  enforced,  and  which 


150  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLAKD    FILLMOBE. 

has  no  penalty  for  its  violation,  is  no  law.  The  highly  respect 
able  gentleman  who  read  an  ingenious  argument  in  support 
of  these  views,  is  too  good  a  theologian  to  contend  that  any 
rule  of  action  which  may  be  disregarded  without  incurring  a 
penalty,  can  be  law.  It  .may  be  a  recommendation,  but  it  can 
not  be  a  law.  This  was  the  great  objection  to  the  articles  of 
confederation.  There  was  no  power  to  enforce  its  provisions. 
They  were  recommendatory,  and  without  sanctions. 

"There  is  no  regulation,  divine  or  human,  which  can  be  called 
a  law,  without  a  sanction.  Our  first  parents,  in  the  garden, 
felt  the  truth  of  this.  And  it  has  been  felt  by  violators  of  the 
divine  or  human  laws  throughout  the  history  of  our  race. 

"The  provision  in  the  constitution  is  prohibitory  and  positive. 
It  prohibits  the  States  from  liberating  slaves  which  escape  into 
them,  and  it  enjoins  a  duty  to  deliver  up  such  fugitives  on 
claim  being  made.  The  constitution  vests  no  special  power  in 
Congress  to  prohibit  the  first,  or  to  enforce  the  observance  of 
the  second.  Does  it,  therefore,  follow  that  effect  can  be  given 
to  neither,  if  a  State  shall  disregard  it  ? 

"Suppose  a  State  declares  a  slave  who  escapes  into  it  shall 
be  liberated,  or  that  any  one  who  shall  assist  in  delivering  him 
up  shall  be  punished,  if  this  power  belongs  to  the  States, 
and  not  to  the  federal  government,  these  regulations  would  be 
legal,  as  within  the  exercise  of  their  discretion.  This  is  not  an 
ideal  case.  The  principle  was  involved  in  the  Prigg  case,  and 
the  Supreme  Court  held  the  act  of  the  State  unconstitutional 
and  void. 

"It  is  admitted  that  there  is  no  power  in  the  federal  govern 
ment  to  force  any  legislative  action  on  a  State.  But,  if  the 
constitution  guarantees  a  right  to  the  master  of  a  slave,  and 
that  he  shall  be  delivered  up,  the  power  is  given  to  effectuate 
that  right.  If  this  be  not  so,  the  constitution  is  not  what  its 
framers  supposed  it  to  be.  It  was  believed  to  be  a  fundamen 
tal  law  of  the  Union.  A  federal  law.  A  law  to  the  States 
and  to  the  people  of  the  States.  It  says  that  the  States  shall 
not  do  certain  things.  Is  this  the  form  of  giving  advice  or 
recommendation?  It  is  the  language  of  authority,  to  those 
who  are  bound  to  obey.  If  a  State  do  the  thing  forbidden,  its 
acts  will  be  declared  void.  If  it  refuse  to  do  that  which  is 
enjoyed,  the  federal  government,  bang  a  government,  has  the 
means  of  executing  it. 


FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  151 

"The  constitution  provides,  'that  full  faith  shall  be  given  to 
public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings,'  of  one  State  in 
every  other.  If  an  individual  claiming  this  provision  as  a  right, 
and  a  State  court  shall  deny  it,  on  a  writ  of  error  to  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  the  Union,  such  judgment  would  be  reversed. 
And  the  provision  .that,  'the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  sev 
eral  States.'  Congress  unquestionably  may  provide  in  what 
manner  a  right  claimed  under  this  clause,  and  denied  by  a 
State,  may  be  enforced.  And  if  a  case  can  be  raised  under  it, 
without  any  further  statutory  provisions,  so  as  to  present  the 
point  to  the  Supreme  Court,  the  decision  of  a  State  court  de 
nying  the  right  would  be  reversed.  So  a  State  is  prohibited 
from  passing  a  law  that  shall  impair  the  obligations  of  a  con 
tract.  Such  a  law  the  Supreme  Court  has  declared  void.  In 
these  cases,  and  in  many  others,  where  a  State  is  prohibited 
from  doing  a  thing,  the  remedy  is  given  by  a  writ  of  error, 
under  the  legislation  of  Congress.  The  same  principle  applies 
in  regard  to  fugitives  from  labor. 

"A  fugitive  from  justice  may  be  delivered  up  under  a  simi 
lar  provision  in  the  constitution.  It  declares  that,  'A  person 
charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime,  who 
shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on 
demand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which  he 
fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having  juris 
diction  of  the  crime.'  This  is  contained  in  the  same  section  as 
the  clause  in  relation  to  fugitives  from  labor,  and  they  both 
stand  upon  the  same  principle.  In  both  cases  Congress  has 
provided  a  mode  in  which  effect  shall  be  given  to  the  provision. 
No  one,  it  is  believed,  has  doubted  the  constitutionality  of  the 
provision  in  regard  to  fugitives  from  justice. 

"The  men  who  framed  the  constitution,  were  adequate  to 
the  great  duties  which  devolved  upon  them.  They  knew  that 
a  general  government  was  essential  to  preserve  the  fruits  of  the 
revolution.  They  understood  the  necessities  of  the  country. 
The  articles  of  confederation  had  been  found  as  a  rope  of  sand, 
in  all  matters  of  conflict  between  the  different  States,  and  the 
people  of  the  different  States.  Without  a  general  government, 
commerce  could  not  be  regulated  among  the  States,  or  with 
foreign  nations ;  fugitives  from  labor  could  not  be  reclaimed ; 
State  boundaries  could  not  be  authoritatively  established. 


152  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMOEE. 

"I  am  aware  it  has  been  stated,  that  the  subject  of  slavery 
was  not  discussed  in  the  convention,  and  that  the  reclamation 
of  fugitives  from  labor  was  not,  at  that  time,  a  subject  of  much 
interest.  This  is  a  mistake.  It  was  a  subject  of  deep  and  ex 
citing  interest,  and  without  a  provision  on  the  subject  no  con 
stitution  could  have  been  adopted.  I  speak  from  information 
received  from  the  late  Chief-Justice  Marshall,  who  was  one  of 
the  chief  actors  in  that  day,  than  whom  no  man  then  living- 
was  of  higher  authority. 

"The  want  of  a  general  regulation  on  the  subject  of  fugitives 
from  justice  and  from  labor  was  felt,  and  the  above  provisions 
in  the  constitution  were  intended  as  a  remedy.  It  has  proved 
to  be  an  adequate  remedy  as  against  fugitives  from  justice.  In 
no  instance,  it  is  believed,  has  the  constitutionality  of  this  pro 
vision  been  doubted.  But  the  provision  in  relation  to  fugitives 
from  labor,  resting  upon  the  same  principle,  is  now  opposed. 

"If  the  introduction  of  this  provision  into  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  Union  was  not  intended  to  operate  as  the  law  of  the 
Union  —  if  it  was  recommendatory  in  its  character  only  —  it 
was  useless.  The  power  to  surrender  fugitives  from  labor, 
under  the  confederacy,  was  with  each  State.  It  could  be  done, 
or  refused,  at  the  discretion  of  the  State.  Did  the  framers  of 
the  constitution  intend  to  leave  this  matter  as  it  was  under  the 
confederation  ?  The  provision  introduced  shows  an  intention 
to  make  some  provision  on  the  subject.  JJut  by  the  argument, 
it  is  said,  the  provision  made  left  the  power  with  the  States, 
and  did  not  vest  it  in  the  general  government.  The  answer  to 
this  is,  it  was  in  the  States  before  the  provision,  and  on  this 
view,  it  added  nothing  to  the  power  of  the  States.  If  such  be 
the  true  construction  of  the  provision,  it  fixes  an  act  of  con 
summate  folly  on  the  framers  of  the  constitution,  and  on  the 
members  of  the  State  conventions  who  adopted  it.  In  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  general  government,  they  incorporated 
into  the  fundamental  law  a  useless  provision,  and  omitted  to 
provide  for  an  emergency  which  was  felt  and  complained  of  in 
one  half  of  the  States.  The  men  of  that  day  were  not  likely 
to  be  guilty  of  such  an  omission.  They  understood  the  federal 
and  State  powers  too  well,  not  to  know  that  without  some  ef 
fective  provision  on  this  subject,  the  superstructure  which  they 
were  about  to  rear  would  soon  be  overthrown.  These  were 
the  circumstances  under  which  the  constitution  was  framed 


FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  153 

and  adopted.  With  the  abstract  principles  of  slavery,  courts 
called  to  administer  this  law  have  nothing  to  do.  It  is  for  the 
people,  who  are  sovereign,  and  their  representatives,  in  making 
constitutions,  and  in  the  enactment  of  laws,  to  consider  the 
laws  of  nature,  and  the  immutable  principles  of  right.  This 
is  a  field  which  judges  can  rfot  explore.  Their  action  is  lim 
ited  to  conventional  rights.  They  look  to  the  law,  and  to  the 
law  only.  A  disregard  of  this,  by  the  judicial  powers,  would 
undermine  and  overturn  the  social  compact.  If  the  law  be 
injudicious  or  oppressive,  let  it  be  repealed  or  modified.  But 
this  is  "a  power  which  the  judiciary  can  not  reach. 

"The  citizen  of  a  slave  State  has  a  right,  under  the  consti 
tution  and  laws  of  the  Union,  to  have  the  fugitive  slave  'deliv 
ered  up  on  claim  being  made,'  and  no  State  can  defeat  or 
obstruct  this  constitutional  right.  The  judiciary  power  of  the 
Union  has  the  primary  or  eventual  power  to  determine  all 
rights  arising  under  the  constitution.  This  will  not  be  contro 
verted  by  any  legal  mind,  which  has  properly  investigated  the 
great  principles  of  the  constitution.  And  the  question  now 
made  is  not,  in  principle,  different  from  a  numerous  class  of 
cases  arising  under  powers  prohibited  to  the  States. 

"The  w  rthy  and  estimable  gentleman  who  read  an  argu 
ment  on  this  occasion,  in  commenting  on  the  cases  covered  by 
the  fugitive  law,  embraced  all  cases  of  contract,  and  even  that 
between  a  minister  and  his  congregation.  He  supposes  if  the 
minister  should  leave  his  congregation  before  his  stipulated 
engagement  had  transpired,  that  he  was  liable  to  be  arrested 
and  returned  to  his  congregation  under  the  fugitive  law. 

"This  is  a  case,  under  this  law,  which  no  one  before  has 
supposed  to  be  embraced  by  it.  And  it  the  law  did  cover 
such  a  case,  it  would  be  the  most  difficult  to  carry  out  of  any 
other  which  has  been  imagined.  If  the  minister  could  be  re 
turned,  neither  the  court  nor  the  congregation  could  compel 
him  to  preach.  No  profession  or  class  of  men  would  be  less 
likely  to  do  anything  on  compulsion. 

"But  the  law  applies  o  no  case  of  contract.  Where  the 
parties  to  the  agreement  are  capable  of  making  a  contract,  the 
remedy  for  a  breach  of  it  is  by  action  at  law.  In  the  case  of 
slaves  and  of  apprentices,  there  is  no  remedy  against  the  indi 
vidual  who  absconds,  by  an  action. 

"Various  objections  are  stated  to  the  fugitive  slave  law  of 


154:  BIO&EAPHY    OF   MILLABD    FILLMOliE. 

1850.  The  duties  of  the  commissioners,  the  penalties  inflicted, 
the  bribe  secured  to  the  commissioner,  for  remanding  the  fugi 
tive,  are  all  objected  to  as  oppressive  and  unconstitutional.  In 
regard  to  the  live  dollars,  in  addition,  paid  to  the  commissioner, 
where  the  fugitive  is  remanded  to  the  claimant,  in  all  fairness, 
it  can  not  be  considered  as  a  bribe,  or  as  so  intended  by  Con 
gress;  but  as  a  compensation  to  the  commissioner  for  making 
a  statement  of  the  case,  which  includes  the  facts  proved,  and 
to  which  his  certiticate  is  annexed.  In  cases  where  the  wit 
nesses  are  numerous,  and  the  investigation  takes  up  several 
days,  five  dollars  would  scarcely  be  a  compensation  for  the 
statement  required.  Where  the  fugitive  is  discharged,  no 
statement  is  necessary. 

"The  powers  of  the  commissioner,  or  the  amount  of  the 
penalties  of  the  act,  are  not  involved  in  this  inquiry.  If  there 
be  an  unconstitutional  provision  in  an  act,  that  does  not  affect 
any  other  part  of  the  act.  But  I  by  no  means  intimate  that 
any  part  of  the  act  referred  to  is  in  conflict  with  the  constitu 
tion.  I  only  say  that  the  objections  made  to  it  do  not  belong- 
to  the  case  under  consideration. 

"The  act  of  1850,  except  by  repugnant  provisions,  did  not 
repeal  the  act  of  1793.  The  objection  that  no  jury  is  given 
does  apply  to  both  acts.  From  my  experience  in  trying  nu 
merous  actions  for  damages  against  persons  who  obstructed  an 
arrest  of  fugitives  from  labor,  or  aided  in  their  escape,  I  am 
authorized  to  say,  that  the  rights  of  the  master  would  be  safe 
before  a  jury.  I  recollect  an  instance  where  a  strong  anti- 
slavery  man,  called  an  abolitionist,  was  on  the  jury  in  a  case 
for  damages,  but  who,  being  sworn  to  find  as  the. evidence  and 
the  law  required,  agreed  to  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff.  He 
rightly  determined  that  his  own  opinions  could  not  govern  him 
in  deciding  a  controversy  between  parties,  but  that  under  his 
oath  he  was  bound  by  the  law  and  the  evidence  of  the  case. 

"It  was  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  give  a  jury  in  cases 
like  the  present,  but  the  law  contains  no  such  provision, 
and  the  question  raised  is,  whether  the  act  without  it  is  con- 
Istitutional. 

"This  question  has  been  largely  discussed  in  Congress,  in 
the  public  press,  and  in  conventions  of  the  people.  It  is  not 
here  raised  as  a  question  of  expediency  or  policy,  but  of  power. 
In  that  aspect  only  is  it  to  be  considered. 


FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAW.  155 

"The  act  of  1793  has  been  in  operation  about  sixty  years. 
During  that  whole  time  it  has  been  executed  as  occasion  re 
quired,  and  it  is  not  known  that  any  court,  judge,  or  other 
officer  has  held  the  act,  in  this,  or  in  any  other  respect,  uncon 
stitutional.  This  long  course  of  decision,  on  a  question  so 
exciting  as  to  call  forth  the  sympathies  of  the  people,  and  the 
astuteness  of  lawyers,  is  no  unsatisfactory  evidence  that  the 
construction  is  correct. 

"  Under  the  constitution  and  act  of  Congress,  the  inquiry  is 
not  strictly  whether  the  fugitive  be  a  slave  or  a  freeman,  but 
whether  he  owe  service  to  the  claimant.  This  would  be  the 
precise  question  in  the  case  of  an  apprentice.  In  such  a  case 
the  inquiry  would  not  be,  whether  the  master  had  treated  the 
apprentice  so  badly  as  to  entitle  him  to  his  discharge.  Such 
a  question  would,  more  probably,  arise  under  the  indenture 
of  apprenticeship,  and  the  laws  under  which  it  was  executed. 
And  if  the  apprentice  be  remanded  to  the  service  of  his  mas 
ter,  it  would  in  no  respect  affect  his  right  to  a  discharge,  where 
he  is  held,  for  the  cruelty  of  his  master  or  any  other  ground. 

"  The  same  principle  applies  to  fugitives  from  labor.  It  is 
true  in  such  cases  evidence  is  heard  that  he  is  a  freeman. 
His  freedom  may  be  established,  by  acts  done  or  suffered  by 
his  master,  not  necessarily  within  the  jurisdiction  where  he  is 
held  as  a  slave.  Such  an  inquiry  may  be  made,  as  it  is  re 
quired  by  the  justice  of  the  case.  But  on  whatever  ground 
the  fugitive  may  be  remanded,  it  can  not,  legally,  operate 
against  his  right  to  liberty.  That  right  when  presented  to  a 
court  in  a  slave  State,  has,  generally,  been  acted  upon  with 
fairness  and  impartiality.  Exceptions  to  this,  if  there  be 
exceptions,  would  seem  to  have  arisen  on  the  claims  of  heirs 
or  creditors,  which  are  governed  by  local  laws,  with  which 
the  people  of  the  other  States  are  not  presumed  to  be  ac 
quainted." 


156  BIOGEAPHY  OF   MTLLAED   FILLMOKE, 


CHAPTER  X. 

FIRST     ANNUAL     MESSAGE. 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  suddenly  called  to  the  presidency  while 
Congress  was  in  session,  and  amid  the  preparations  for  the 
funeral  of  President  Taylor.  These  circumstances  prevented 
liis  deliverino-  an  inaugural  address.  He  therefore  took  occa- 

t>  o 

sion  in  his  first  annual  message,  at  the  opening  of  the  next 
session  of  Congress,  to  promulgate  some  general  principles  by 
which  he  would  be  governed  in  his  administration  of  the  gov 
ernment.  This  message  is  so  admirable  in  style,  so  truly  na 
tional  in  its  spirit,  so  statesmanlike  in  its  recommendations,  and, 
compared  with  most  documents  of  the  kind,  is  such  a  model 
of  brevity  and  directness,  that  we  copy  it  without  abridgment: 

"Fellow -Citizens  of  the  Senate,  and  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives: — Being  suddenly  called,  in  the  midst  of  the  last 
session  of  Congress,  by  a  painful  dispensation  of  Divine  Prov 
idence,  to  the  responsible  station  which  I  now  hold,  i  contented 
myself  with  such  communications  to  the  legislature  as  the  exi 
gency  of  the  moment  seemed  to  require.  The  country  was 
shrouded  in  mourning  for  the  loss  of  its  venerated  chief  magis 
trate,  and  all  hearts  were  penetrated  with  grief.  Neither  the 
time  nor  the  occasion  appeared  to  require  or  to  justify,  on  my 
part,  any  general  expression  of  political  opinions,  or  any  an 
nouncement  of  the  principles  which  would  govern  me  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  to  the  performance  of  which  I  had 
been  so  unexpectedly  called.  I  trust,  therefore,  that  it  may 
not  be  deemed  inappropriate,  if  I  avail  myself  of  this  opportu 
nity  of  the  re-assembling  of  Congress,  to  make  known  my  sen 
timents  in  a  general  manner,  in  regard  to  the  policy  which 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  157 

ought  to  be  pursued  by  the  government,  both  in  its  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations,  and  in  its  management  and  administration 
of  internal  affairs. 

"  Nations,  like  individuals  in  a  state  of  nature,  are  equal  and 
independent,  possessing  certain  rights,  and  owing  certain  duties 
to  each  other,  arising  from  their  necessary  and  unavoidable 
relations;  which  rights  and  duties  there  is  no  common  human 
authority  to  protect  and  enforce.  Still,  they  are  rights  and 
duties,  binding  in  morals,  in  conscience,  and  in  honor,  although 
there  is  no  tribunal  to  which  an  injured  party  can  appeal,  but 
the  disinterested  judgment  of  mankind,  and  ultimately  the 
arbitrament  of  the  sword. 

'*  Among  the  acknowledged  rights  of  nations  is  that  which 
each  possesses  of  establishing  that  form  of  government  which  it 
may  deem  most  conducive  to  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of 
its  own  citizens;  of  changing  that  form,  as  circumstances  may 
require ;  and  of  managing  its  internal  affairs  according  to  its 
own  will.  The  people  of  the  United  States  claim  this  right 
for  themselves,  and  they  readily  concede  it  to  others.  Hence 
it  becomes  an  imperative  duty  not  to  interfere  in  the  govern 
ment  or  internal  policy  of  other  nations;  and,  although  we  may 
sympathize  with  the  unfortunate  or  the  oppressed,  everywhere, 
in  their  struggles  for  freedom,  our  principles  forbid  us  from 
taking  any  part  in  such  foreign  contests.  We  make  no  wars 
to  promote  or  to  prevent  successions  to  thrones;  to  maintain 
any  theory  of  a  balance  of  power;  or  to  suppress  the  actual 
government  which  any  country  chooses  to  establish  for  itself. 
We  instigate  no  revolutions,  nor  suffer  any  hostile  military  ex 
peditions  to  be  h'tled  out  in  the  United  States  to  invade  the 
territory  or  provinces  of  a  friendly  nation.  The  great  law  of 
morality  ought  to  have  a  national,  as  well  as  a  personal  and 
individual,  application.  We  should  act  toward  other  nations 
as  we  wish  them  to  act  toward  us;  and  justice  and  conscience 
should  form  the  rule  of  conduct  between  governments,  instead 
of  mere  power,  self-interest,  or  the  desire  of  aggrandizement. 
To  maintain  a  strict  neutrality  in  foreign  wars,  to  cultivate 
friendly  relations,  to  reciprocate  every  noble  and  generous  act, 
and  to  perform  punctually  and  scrupulously  every  treaty  obli 
gation  —  these  are  the  duties  which  we  owe  to  other  States, 
and  by  the  performance  of  which  we  best  entitle  ourselves  to 
like  treatment  from  them ;  or  if  that,  in  any  case,  bo  refused, 


158  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLAiil)    FILLMORE. 

•we  can  enforce  our  own  rights  with  justice  and  with  a  clear 
conscience. 

"In  our  domestic  policy,  the  constitution  will  be  my  guide; 
and  in  questions  of  doubt,  I  shall  look  for  its  interpretation  to 
the  judicial  decisions  of  that  tribunal  which  was  established  to 
expound  it,  and  to  the  usage  of  the  government,  sanctioned  by 
the  acquiescence  of  the  country.  I  regard  all  its  provisions  as 
equally  binding.  In  all  its  parts  it  is  the  will  of  the  people, 
expressed  in  the  most  solemn  form,  and  the  constituted  author 
ities  are  but  agents  to  carry  that  will  into  effect.  Every  power 
•which  it  has  granted  is  to  be  exercised  for  the  public  good; 
but  no  pretense  of  utility,  no  honest  conviction,  even,  of  what 
might  be  expedient,  can  justify  the  assumption  of  any  power 
hot  granted.  The  powers  conferred  upon  the  government  and 
their  distribution  to  the  several  departments,  are  as  clearly  ex 
pressed  in  that  sacred  instrument  as  the  imperfection  of  human 
language  will  allow;  and  I  deem  it  my  first  duty,  not  to  ques 
tion  its  wisdom,  add  to  its  provisions,  evade  its  requirements, 
or  nullify  its  commands. 

"  Upon  you,  fellow-citizens,  as  the  representatives  of  the 
States  and  the  people,  is  wisely  devolved  the  legislative  power. 
I  shall  comply  with  my  duty,  in  laying  before  you,  from  time 
to  time,  any  information  calculated  to  enable  you  to  discharge 
your  high  and  responsible  trust,  for  the  benefit  of  our  common 
constituents. 

"  My  opinions  will  be  frankly  expressed  upon  the  leading 
subjects  of  legislation;  and  if,  which  I  do  not  anticipate,  any 
act  should  pass  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  which  should  ap 
pear  to  me  unconstitutional,  or  an  encroachment  on  the  just 
powers  of  other  departments,  or  with  provisions  hastily  adopted, 
and  likely  to  produce  consequences  injurious  and  unforeseen,  I 
should  not  shrink  from  the  duty  of  returning  it  to  you,  with  my 
reasons,  for  your  further  consideration.  Beyond  the  due  per 
formance  of  these  constitutional  obligations,  both  my  respect 
for  the  legislature  and  my  sense  of  propriety  will  restrain  me 
\from  any  attempt  to  control  or  influence  your  proceedings. 
"With  you  is  the  power,  the  honor,  and  the  responsibility*^ 
the  legislation  of  the  country. 

"  The  government  of  the  United  States  is  a  limited  govern 
ment.  It  is  confined  to  the  exercise  of  powers  expressly 
granted,  and  such  others  as  may  be  necessary  for  carrying 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  159 

0 

those  powers  into  effect;  and  it  is  at  all  times  an  especial  duty 
to  guard  against  any  infringement  on  the  just  rights  of  the 
States.  Over  the  objects  and  subjects  intrusted  to  Congress, 
its  legislative  authority  is  supreme.  But  here  that  authority 
ceases,  and  every  citizen  who  truly  loves  the  constitution,  and 
desires  the  continuance  of  its  existence  and  its  blessings,  will 
resolutely  and  firmly  resist  any  interference  in  those  domestic 
affairs  which  the  constitution  has  clearly  and  unequivocally 
left  to  the  exclusive  authority  of  the  States.  And  every  such 
citizen  will  also  deprecate  useless  irritation  among  the  several 
members  of  the  Union,  and  all  reproach  and  crimination  tend 
ing  to  alienate  one  portion  of  the  country  from  another.  The 
beauty  of  our  system  of  government  consists,  and  its  safety  and 
durability  must  consist,  in  avoiding  mutual  collisions  and  en 
croachments,  and. in  the  regular  separate  action  of  all,  while 
each  is  revolving  in  its  own  distinct  orbit. 

"  The  constitution  has  made  it  the  duty  of  the  President  to 
take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.  In  a  govern 
ment  like  ours,  in  which  all  laws  are  passed  by  a  majority  of 
the  representatives  of  the  people,  and  these  representatives  are 
chosen  for  such  short  periods,  that  any  injurious  or  obnoxious 
law  can  very  soon  be  repealed,  it  would  appear  unlikely  that 
any  great  numbers  should  be  found  ready  to  resist  the  execu 
tion  of  the  laws.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  coun 
try  is  extensive,  that  there  may  be  local  interests  or  prejudices 
rendering  a  law  odious  in  one  part,  which  is  not  so  in  another, 
and.  that  the  thoughtless  and  inconsiderate,  misled  by  their 
passions  or  their  imaginations,  may  be  induced  madly  to  resist 
such  laws  as  they  disapprove.  Such  persons  should  recollect 
that,  without  law  there  can  be  no  real  practical  liberty ;  that, 
when  law  is  trampled  under  foot,  tyranny  rules,  whether  it 
appears  in  the  form  of  a  military  despotism  or  of  popular  vio 
lence.  The  law  is  the  only  sure  protection  of  the  weak,  and 
the  only  efficient  restraint  upon  the  strong.  When  impartially 
and  faithfully  administered,  none  is  beneath  its  protection,  and 
none  above  its  control.  You,  gentlemen,  and  the  country,  may 
be  assured,  that  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability,  and  to  the  extent 
of  the  power  vested  in  me,  I  shall  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places, 
take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.  In  the  dis 
charge  of  this  duty,  solemnly  imposed  upon  me  by  the  consti 
tution,  and  by  my  oath  of  office,  I  shall  shrink  from  no 


100  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLABD   FILLMORE. 

Ik 

responsibility,  and  shall  endeavor  to  meet  events  as  they  may 
arise,  with  firmness,  as  well  as  with  prudence  and  discretion. 

"  The  appointing  power  is  one  of  the  most  delicate  with 
which  the  executive  is  invested.  I  regard  it  as  a  sacred  trust, 
to  be  exercised  with  the  sole  view  of  advancing  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  the  people.  It  shall  be  my  effort  to  elevate 
the  standard  of  official  employment,  by  selecting  for  places  of 
importance  individuals  fitted  for  the  posts  to  which  they  are 
assigned,  by  their  known  integrity,  talents,  and  virtues.  In  so 
extensive  a  country,  with  so  great  a  population,  and  where  few 
persons  appointed  to  office  can  be  known  to  the  appointing 
power,  mistakes  will  sometimes  unavoidably  happen,  and  un 
fortunate  appointments  be  made,  notwithstanding  the  greatest 
care.  In  such  cases,  the  power  of  removal  may  be  properly 
exercised;  and  neglect  of  duty  or  malfeasance  in  office  will  be 
no  more  tolerated  in  individuals  appointed  by  myself  than  in 
those  appointed  by  others. 

"  I  am  happy  in  being  able  to  say  that  no  unfavorable  change 
in  our  foreign  relations  has  taken  place  since  the  message  at 
the  opening  of  the  last  session  of  Congress.  We  are  at  peace 
with  all  nations,  and  we  enjoy  in  an  eminent  degree  the  bless 
ings  of  that  peace,  in  a  prosperous  and  growing  commerce,  and 
in  all  the  forms  of  amicable  national  intercourse.  The  unex 
ampled  growth  of  the  country,  the  present  amount  of  its  pop 
ulation,  and  its  ample  means  of  self-protection,  assure  for  it  the 
respect  of  all  nations,  while  it  is  trusted  that  its  character  for 
justice,  and  a  regard  to  the  rights  of  other  States,  will  cause 
that  respect  to  be  readily  and  cheerfully  paid. 

"  A  convention  was  negotiated  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  in  April  last,  for  facilitating  and  protecting 
the  construction  of  a  ship  canal  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pa 
cific  Oceans,  and  for  other  purposes.  This  instrument  has 
since  been  ratified  by  the  contracting  parties,  the  exchange  of 
ratifications  has  been  effected,  and  proclamation  thereof  has 
been  duly  made. 

"  In  addition  to  the  stipulations  contained  in  this  convention, 
two  other  objects  remain  to  be  accomplished  between  the  con 
tracting  powers. 

"  First,  the  designation  and  establishment  of  a  free  port  at 
each  end  of  the  canal. 

"  Second,  an  agreement  fixing  the  distance  from  the  shore 


FIEST   ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  161 

within  which  belligerent  maritime  operations  shall  not  be 
carried  on.  On  these  points  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  two 
governments  will  come  to  an  understanding. 

"The  company  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  have 
acquired  from  the  State  of  Nicaragua  the  privilege  of  con 
structing  a  ship  canal  between  the  two  oceans,  through  the 
territory  of  that  State,  have  made  progress  in  their  preliminary 
arrangements.  The  treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  of  the  19th  of  April  last,  above  referred  to, 
being  now  in  operation,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  guarantees 
which  it  offers  will  be  sufficient  to  secure  the  completion  of  the 
work  with  all  practicable  expedition.  It  is  obvious  that  this 
result  would  be  indefinitely  postponed,  if  any  other  than  peace 
ful  measures,  for  the  purpose  of  harmonizing  conflicting  claims 
to  territory  in  that  quarter,  should  be  adopted.  It  will  conse 
quently  be  my  endeavor  to  cause  any  further  negotiations  on 
the  part  of  this  government,  which  may  be  requisite  for  this 
purpose,  to  be  so  conducted  as  to  bring  them  to  a  speedy  and 
successful  close. 

"  Some  unavoidable  delay  has  occurred,  arising  from  distance 
and  the  difficulty  of  intercourse  between  this  government  and 
that  of  Nicaragua;  but,  as  intelligence  has  just  been  received 
of  the  appointment  of  an  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  of  that  government  to  reside  at  Washington, 
whose  arrival  may  soon  be  expected,  it  is  hoped  that  no  fur 
ther  impediments  will  be  experienced  in  the  prompt  transac 
tion  of  business  between  the  two  governments. 

"  Citizens  of  the  United  States  have  undertaken  the  connec 
tion  of  the  two  oceans  by  means  of  a  railroad  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Tehuantepec,  under  grants  of  the  Mexican  government  to 
a  citizen  of  that  republic.  It  is  understood  that  a  thorough 
survey  of  the  course  of  the  communication  is  in  preparation, 
and  there  is  every  reason  to  expect  that  it  will  be  prosecuted 
with  characteristic  energy,  especially  when  that  government 
shall  have  consented  to  such  stipulations  with  the  government 
of  the  United  States  as  may  be  necessary  to  impart  a  feeling 
of  security  to  those  who  may  embark  their  property  in  the 
enterprise.  Negotiations  are  pending  for  the  accomplishment 
of  that  object,  and  a  hope  is  confidently  entertained  that,  when 
the  government  of  Mexico  shall  become  duly  sensible  of  the 
advantages  which  that  country  can  not  fail  to  derive  from  the 


162  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

work,  and  learn  that  the  government  of  the  United  States 
desires  that  the  right  of  sovereignty  of  Mexico  in  the  isthmus 
shall  remain  unimpaired,  the  stipulations  referred  to  will  be 
agreed  to  with  alacrity. 

"  By  the  last  advices  from  Mexico  it  would  appear,  however, 
that  that  government  entertains  strong  objections  to  some  of 
the  stipulations  which  the  parties  concerned  in  the  project 
of  the  railroad  deem  necessary  for  their  protection  and  security. 
Further  consideration,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  or  some  modification 
of  terms,  may  yet  reconcile  the  differences  existing  between 
the  two  governments  in  this  respect. 

"  Fresh  instructions  have  recently  been  given  to  the  Minister 
of  the  United  States  in  Mexico,  who  is  prosecuting  the  subject 
with  promptitude  and  ability. 

"  Although  the  negotiations  with  Portugal,  for  the  payment 
of  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  against  that  govern 
ment,  have  not  yet  resulted  in  a  formal  treaty,  yet  a  proposi 
tion  made  by  the  government  of  Portugal  for  the  final 
adjustment  and  payment  of  those  claims,  has  recently  been 
accepted  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  It  gives  me  pleas 
ure  to  say  that  Mr.  Clay,  to  whom  the  negotiation  on  the  part 
of  the, United  States  had  been  entrusted,  discharged  the  duties 
of  his  appointment  with  ability  and  discretion,  acting  always 
within  the  instructions  of  his  government. 

"It  is  expected  that  a  regular  convention  will  be  immediately 
negotiated  for  carrying  the  agreement  between  the  two  gov 
ernments  into  effect. 

"The  commissioner  appointed  under  the  act  of  Congress  for 
carrying  into  effect  the  convention  with  Brazil,  of  the  27th  of 
January,  1849,  has  entered  upon  the  performance  of  the  duties 
imposed  upon  him  by  that  act.  It  is  hoped  that  those  duties 
may  be  completed  within  the  time  which  it  prescribes.  The 
documents,  however,  which  the  imperial  government,  by  the 
third  article  of  the  convention,  stipulates  to  furnish  to  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States,  have  not  yet  been  received. 
As  it  is  presumed  that  those  documents  will  be  essential  for 
the  correct  disposition  of  the  claims,  it  may  become  necessary 
for  Congress  to  extend  the  period  limited  for  the  duration  of 
the  commission.  The  sura  stipulated  by  the  fourth  article  of 
the  convention  to  be  paid  to  this  government  has  been 
received. 


FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  163 

"The  collection  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States  of  discrim 
inating  duties  upon  the  vessels  of  Chili  and  their  cargoes,  has 
been  suspended,  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  Con 
gress  of  the  24th  of  May,  1828.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this 
measure  will  impart  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  commerce  between 
the  two  countries,  which,  of  late,  and  especially  since  our  ac 
quisition  of  California,  has,  to  the  mutual  advantage  of  the 
parties,  been  much  augmented. 

"Peruvian  guano  has  become  so  desirable  an  article  to  the 
agricultural  interest  of  the  United  States,  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  government  to  employ  all  the  means  properly  in  its 
power  for  the  purpose  of  causing  that  article  to  be  imported 
into  the  country  at  a  reasonable  price.  Nothing  will  be  omit 
ted  on  my  part  toward  accomplishing  this  desirable  end.  I 
am  persuaded  that  in  removing  any  restraints  on  this  traffic, 
the  Peruvian  government  will  promote  its  own  best  interests, 
while  it  will  afford  a  proof  of  a  friendly  disposition  toward  this 
country,  which  will  be  duly  appreciated. 

"The  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  His  Majesty  the 
King  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  which  has  recently  been  made 
public,  will,  it  is  believed,  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon  the  re 
lations  between  the  two  countries. 

"The  relations  between  those  parts  of  the  Island  of  St.  Do 
mingo,  which  were  formerly  colonies  of  Spain  and  France, 
respectively,  are  still  in  an  unsettled  condition.  The  proximity 
of  that  island  to  the  United  States,  and  the  delicate  questions 
involved  in  the  existing  controversy  there,  render  it  desirable 
that  it  should  be  permanently  and  speedily  adjusted.  The 
interests  of  humanity  and  of  general  commerce  also  demand 
this ;  and,  as  intimations  of  the  same  sentiment  have  been  re 
ceived  from  other  governments,  it  is  hoped  that  some  plan  may 
soon  be  devised  to  effect  the  object  in  a  manner  likely  to  give 
general  satisfaction.  The  government  of  the  United  States 
will  not  fail,  by  the  exercise  of  all  proper  friendly  offices,  to  do 
all  in  its  power  to  put  an  end  to  the  destructive  war  which  has 
raged  between  the  different  parts  of  the  island,  and  to  secure 
to  them  both  the  benefits  of  peace  and  commerce. 

"I  refer  you  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
for  a  detailed  statement  of  the  finances. 

"The  total  receipts  into  the  treasury,  for  the  year  ending 
30th  of  June  last,  were  forty-seven  millions  four  hundred  and 


164        BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLARD  FILLMORE. 

twenty-one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars 
and  ninety  cents,  (847,421,748  90.) 

"The  total  expenditures  during  the  same  period  were  forty- 
three  million  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  dol 
lars  arid  ninety  cents,  (843,002,168  90.) 

"The  public  debt  has  been  reduced,  since  the  last  annual 
report  from  the  treasury  department,  four  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  thousand  two  hundred  and  se/enty-six  dollars  and  seventy- 
nine  cents,  ($495,276  79.) 

"By  the  nineteenth  section  of  the  act  of  28th  January,  1847, 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  were  pledged  for 
the  interest  and  principal  of  the  public  debt.  The  great 
amount  of  those  lands  subsequently  granted  by  Congress  for 
military  bounties,  will,  it  is  believed,  very  nearly  supply  the 
public  demand  for  several  years  to  come,  and  but  little  reliance 
can,  therefore,  be  placed  on  that  hitherto  fruitful  source  of 
revenue. 

"Aside  from  the  permanent  annual  expenditures,  which  have 
necessarily  largely  increased,  a  portion  of  the  public  debt, 
amounting  to  eight  million  seventy-five  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  eighty-six  dollars  and  fifty-nine  cents,  ($8,075,986  59,) 
must  be  provided  for  within  the  next  two  fiscal  years.  It  is 
most  desirable  that  these  accruing  demands  should  be  met 
without  resorting  to  new  loans. 

"All  experience  has  demonstrated  the  wisdom  and  policy  of 
raising  a  large  portion  of  revenue  for  the  support  of  govern 
ment  from  duties  on  goods  imported.  The  power  to  lay  these 
duties  is  unquestionable,  and  its  chief  object,  of  course,  is  to 
replenish  the  treasury.  But  if,  in  doing  this,  an  incidental 
advantage  may  be  gained  by  encouragino-  the  industry  of  our 
own  citizens,  it  is  our  duty  to  avail  ourselves  of  that  advantage. 

';A  duty  laid  upon  an  article  which  can  not  be  produced  in 
this  country  —  such  as  tea  or  coffee  —  adds  to  the  cost  of  the 
article,  and  is  chiefly  or  wholly  paid  by  the  consumer.  But  a 
duty  laid  upon  an  article  which  may  be  produced  here,  stim 
ulates  the  skill  and  industry  of  our  own  country  to  produce 
the  same  article,  which  is  brought  into  the  market  in  competi 
tion  with  the  foreign  article,  and  the  importer  is  thus  compelled 
to  reduce  his  price  to  that  at  which  the  domestic  article  can  be 
sold,  thereby  throwing  a  part  of  the  duty  upon  the  producer 
of  the  foreign  article.  The  continuance  of  this  process  creates 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  165 

the  skill,  and  invites  the  capital,  which  finally  enables  us  to 
produce  the  article  much  cheaper  than  it  could  have  been  pro 
cured  from  abroad,  thereby  benefitting  both  the  producer  and 
the  consumer  at  home.  The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  the 
artisan  and  the  agriculturalist  are  brought  together,  each 
affords  a  ready  market  for  the  produce  of  the  other,  the  whole 
country  becomes  prosperous,  and  the  ability  to  produce  every 
necessary  of  life  renders  us  independent  in  war  as  well  as 
in  peace. 

"A  high  tariff  can  never  be  permanent.  It  will  cause  dis 
satisfaction  and  will  be  changed.  It  excludes  competition,  and 
thereby  invites  the  investment  of  capital  in  manufactures  to 
such  excess,  that  when  changed  it  brings  distress,  bankruptcy, 
and  ruin,  upon  all  who  have  been  misled  by  its  faithless  pro 
tection.  What  the  manufacturer  wants,  is  uniformity  and  per 
manency,  that  he  may  feel  a  confidence  that  he  is  not  to  be 
ruined  by  sudden  changes.  But  to  make  a  tariff  uniform  and 
permanent,  it  is  not  only  necessary  that  the  law  should  not  be 
altered,  but  that  the  duty  should  not  fluctuate.  To  effect  this, 
all  duties  should  be  specific,  wherever  the  nature  of  the  article 
is  such  as  to  admit  of  it.  Ad  valorem  duties  fluctuate  with 
the  price,  and  offer  strong  temptations  to  fraud  and  perjury. 
(Specific  duties,  on  the  contrary,  are  equal  and  uniform  in  all 
ports,  and  at  all  times,  and  offer  a  strong  inducement  to  the 
importer  to  bring  the.  best  article,  as  he  pays  no  more  duty 
upon  that  than  upon  one  of  inferior  quality.  I  therefore 
strongly  recommend  a  modification  of  the  present  tariff,  which 
lias  prostrated  some  of  our  most  important  and  necessary  man 
ufactures,  and  that  specific  duties  be  imposed  sufficient  to  raise 
the  requisite  revenue,  making  such  discrimination  in  favor  of 
the  industrial  pursuits  of  our  own  country  as  to  encourage 
home  production,  without  excluding  foreign  competition.  It  is 
also  important  that  an  unfortunate  provision  in  the  present 
tariff,  which  imposes  a  much  higher  duty  upon  the  raw  ma 
terial  that  enters  into  our  manufactures  than  upon  the  manu 
factured  article,  should  be  remedied. 

"The  papers  accompanying  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  will  disclose  frauds  attempted  upon  the  revenue, 
in  variety  and  amount  so  great,  as  to  justify  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  impossible,  under  any  system  of  ad  valorem  duties  levied 
upon  the  foreign  cost  or  value  of  the  article,  to  secure  an 


160       BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLARD  FILLMOEE. 

honest  observance  and  an  effectual  administration  of  the  laws. 
The  fraudulent  devices  to  evade  the  law,  which  have  been  de 
tected  by  the  vigilance  of  the  appraisers,  leave  no  room  to 
doubt  that  similar  impositions  not  discovered,  to  a  large  amount, 
have  been  successfully  practiced  since  the  enactment  of  the 
law  now  in  force.  This  state  of  things  has  already  had  a  pre 
judicial  influence  upon  those  engaged  in  foreign  commerce. 
It  has  a  tendency  to  drive  the  honest  trader  from  the  business 
of  importing,  and  to  throw  that  important  branch  of  employ 
ment  into  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  and  dishonest  men,  who 
are  alike  regardless  of  Jaw  and  the  obligations  of  an  oath.  By 
these  means  the  plain  intentions  of  Congress,  as  expressed  in 
the  law,  are  daily  defeated.  Every  motive  of  policy  and  duty, 
therefore,  impel  me  to  ask  the  earnest  attention  of  Congress 
to  this  subject.  If  Congress  should  deem  it  unwise  to  attempt 
any  important  changes  in  the  system  of  levying  duties  at  this 
session,  it  will  become  indispensable  to  the  protection  of  the 
revenue  that  such  remedies,  as  in  the  judgment  of  Congress  may 
mitigate  the  evils  complained  of,  should  be  at  once  applied. 

"As  before  stated,  specific  duties  would,  in  my  opinion,  afford 
the  most  perfect  remedy  for  tin's  evil ;  but,  if  you  should  not 
concur  in  this  view,  then,  as  a  partial  remedy,  I  beg  leave  re 
spectfully  to  recommend  that,  instead  of  taking  the  invoice  of 
the  article  abroad  as  a  means  of  determining  its  value  here, 
the  correctness  of  which  invoice  it  is  in  many  cases  impossible 
to  verify,  the  law  be  so  changed  as  to  require  a  home  valuation 
or  appraisal,  to  be  regulated  in  such  manner  as  to  give,  as  far 
as  practicable,  uniformity  in  the  several  ports. 

"  There  being  no  mint  in  California,  I  am  informed  that  the 
laborers  in  the  mines  are  compelled  to  dispose  of  their  gold 
-dust  at  a  large  discount.  This  appears  to  me  to  be  a  heavy 
and  unjust  tax  upon  the  labor  of  those  employed  in  extracting 
this  precious  metal ;  and  I  doubt  not  you  will  be  disposed,  at 
the  earliest  period  possible,  to  relieve  them  from  it  by  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  mint.  In  the  meantime,  as  an  assayer's  office 
is  established  there,  I  would  respectfully  submit  for  your  con 
sideration  the  propriety  of  authorizing  gold  bullion,  which  has 
been  assayed  and  stamped,  to  be  received  in  payment  of  gov 
ernment  dues.  I  can  not  conceive  that  the  treasury  would 
suffer  any  loss  by  such  a  provision,  which  will  at  once  raise 
bullion  to  its  par  value,  and  thereby  save,  (if  I  am  rightly 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  167 

informed,)  many  millions  of  dollars  to  the  laborers  which  are  now 
paid  in  brokerage  to  convert  this  precious  metal  into  available 
funds.  This  discount  upon  their  hard  earnings  is  a  heavy  tax, 
and  every  effort  should  be  made  by  the  government  to  relieve 
them  from  so  great  a  burden. 

"More  than  three-fourths  of  our  population  are  engaged  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  The  commercial,  manufacturing, 
and  navigating  interests  are  all,  to  a  great  extent,  dependent 
on  the  agricultural.  It  is,  therefore,  the  most  important  in 
terest  of  the  nation,  and  has  a  just  claim  to  the  fostering  care 
and  protection  of  the  government,  so  far  as  they  can  be  ex 
tended  consistently  with  the  prov  isions  of  the  constitution.  As 
this  can  not  be  done  by  the  ordinary  modes  of  legislation,  f. 
respectfully  recommend  the  establishment  of  an  Agricultural 
Bureau,  to  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  giving  to  this  leading* 
branch  of  American  industry  the  encouragement  which  it  so 
well  deserves.  In  view  of  the  immense  mineral  resources  ef 
our  country,  provision  should  also  be  made  for  the  employment 
of  a  competent  mineralogist  and  chemist,  who  should  be  re 
quired,  under  the  direction  of  the  head  of  the  bureau,  to  collect 
specimens  of  the  various  minerals  of  our  country,  and  to  ascer 
tain,  by  careful  analysis,  their  respective  elements  and  proper 
ties,  and  their  adaptation  to  useful  purposes.  He  should  also 
be  required  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  qualities  of  differ 
ent  soils,  and  the  manures  best  calculated  to  improve  their 
productiveness.  By  publishing  the  results  of  such  experiments, 
with  suitable  explanations,  and  by  the  collection  and  distribu 
tion  of  rare  seeds  and  plants,  with  instructions  as  to  the  best 
system  of  cultivation,  much  may  be  done  to  promote  this  great 
national  interest. 

"In  compliance  with  the  act  of  Congress,  passed  on  the  23d 
of  May,  1850,  providing,  among  other  things,  for  taking  the 
seventh  census,  a  superintendent  was  appointed,  and  all  other 
measures  adopted  which  were  deemed  necessary  to  ensure  the 
prompt  and  faithful  performance  of  that  duty.  The  appro 
priation  already  made  will,  it  is  believed,  be  sufficient  to  defray 
the  whole  expense  of  the  work ;  but  furtber  legislation  may  be 
necessary  in  regard  to  the  compensation  of  some  of  the  marshals 
of  the  territories.  It  will  also  be  proper  to  make  provision,  by 
law,  at  an  early  day,  for  the  publication  of  such  abstracts  of 
the  returns  as  the  public  interests  may  require. 


168  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLHORE. 

"The  unprecedented  growth  of  our  territories  on  the  Pacific 
in  wealth  and  population,  and  the  consequent  increase  of  their 
social  and  commercial  relations  with  the  Atlantic  States,  seem 
to  render  it  the  duty  of  the  government  to  use  all  its  constitu 
tional  power  to  improve  the  means  of  intercourse  with  them. 
The  importance  of  opening  'a  line  of  communication,  the  best 
and  most  expeditious  of  which  the  nature  of  the  country  will 
admit,'  between  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific, 
was  brought  to  your  notice  by  my  predecessor,  in  his  annual 
message;  and  as  the  reasons  which  he  presented  in  favor  of 
the  measure  still  exist  in  full  force,  I  beg  leave  to  call  your 
attention  to  them,  and  to  repeat  the  recommendations  then 
made  by  him. 

"The  uncertainty  which  exists  in  regard  to  the  validity  of 
land  titles  in  California  is  a  subject  which  demands  your  early 
consideration.  Large  bodies  of  land  in  that  State  are  claimed 
under  grants  said  to  have  been  made  by  authority  of  the 
Spanish  and  Mexican  governments.  Many  of  these  have  not 
been  perfected,  others  have  been  revoked,  and  some  are  be 
lieved  to  be  fraudulent.  But  until  they  shall  have  been  judi 
cially  investigated,  they  will  continue  to  retard  the  settlement 
and  improvement  of  the  country.  I,  therefore,  respectfully 
recommend  that  provision  be  made  by  law,  for  the  appointment 
of  commissioners  to  examine  all  such  claims  with  a  view  to 
their  final  adjustment. 

"I  also  beg  leave  to  call  your  attention  to  the  propriety  of 
extending,  at  an  early  day,  our  system  of  land  laws,  with  such 
modiiieations  as  may  be  necessary,  over  the  State  of  California 
and  the  territories  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico.  The  mineral 
lands  of  California  will,  of  course,  form  an  exception  to  any 
general  system  which  may  be  adopted.  Various  methods  of 
disposing  of  them  have  been  suggested.  I  was  at  first  inclined 
to  favor  the  system  of  leasing,  as  it  seemed  to  promise  the 
largest  revenue  to  the  government  and  to  atford  the  best  se 
curity  against  monopolies:  but  further  reflection,  and  our 
experience  in  leasing  the  lead  mines  and  selling  lands  upon 
credit,  have  brought  my  mind  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
would  be  great  difficulty  in  collecting  the  rents,  and  that  the 
relation  of  debtor  and  creditor,  between  the  citizens  and  the 
government,  would  be  attended  with  many  mischievous  con 
sequences.  I,  therefore,  recommend  that,  instead  of  retaining 


FIRST   ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  169 

the  mineral  lands  under  the  permanent  control  of  the  govern 
ment,  they  be  divided  into  small  parcels  and  sold,  under  such 
restrictions,  as  to  quantity  and  time,  as  will  insure  the  best 
price,  and  guard  most  effectually  against  combinations  of  capi 
talists  to  obtain  monopolies. 

"The  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  acquisition  of  California 
and  New  Mexico  have  given  increased  importance  to  our  In 
dian  relations.  The  various  tribes  brought  under  our  jurisdic 
tion  by  these  enlargements  of  our  boundaries  are  estimated 
to  embrace  a  population  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
thousand. 

"Texas  and  New  Mexico  are  surrounded  by  powerful  tribes 
of  Indians,  who  are  a  source  of  constant  terror  and  annoyance 
to  the  inhabitants.  Separating  into  small  predatory  bands,  and 
always  mounted,  they  overrun  the  country,  devastating  farms, 
destroying  crops,  driving  off  whole  herds  of  cattle,  and  occa 
sionally  murdering  the  inhabitants  or  carrying  them  into  cap 
tivity.  The  great  roads  leading  into  the  country  are  infested 
with  them,  whereby  traveling  is  rendered  extremely  dangerous, 
and  immigration  is  almost  entirely  arrested.  The  Mexican 
frontier,  which,  by  the  eleventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  Guad- 
alupe  Hidalgo,  we  are  bound  to  protect  against  the  Indians 
within  our  border,  is  exposed  to  these  incursions  equally  with 
our  own.  The  military  force  stationed  in  that  country  (al 
though  forming  a  large  proportion  of  the  army)  is  represented 
as  entirely  inadequate  to  our  own  protection  and  the  fulfillment 
of  our  treaty  stipulations  with  Mexico.  The  principal  deficien 
cy  is  in  cavalry ;  and  I  recommend  that  Congress  should,  at  as 
early  a  period  as  practicable,  provide  for  the  raising  of  one  or 
more  regiments  of  mounted  men. 

"For  further  suggestions  on  this  subject,  and  others  con 
nected  with  our  domestic  interests,  and  the  defense  of  our 
frontier,  I  refer  you  to  the  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  and  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

"I  commend  also  to  your  favorable  consideration  the  sug 
gestion  contained  in  the  last  mentioned  report,  and  in  the  letter 
of  the  general-in-chief,  relative  to  the  establishment  of  an  asy 
lum  for  the  relief  of  disabled  and  destitute  soldiers.  This 
subject  appeals  so  strongly  to  your  sympathies  that  it  would 
be  superfluous  in  me  to  say  anything  more  than  barely  to 
express  my  cordial  approbation  of  the  proposed  object. 
8 


170  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

"The  navy  continues  to  give  protection  to  our  commerce 
and  other  national  interests  in  the  different  quarters  of  the 
globe,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  steamer  on  the  north 
ern  lakes,  the  vessels  in  commission  are  distributed  in  six  dif 
ferent  squadrons. 

"The  report  of  the  head  of  that  department  will  exhibit  the 
services  of  these  squadrons,  and  of  the  several  vessels  em 
ployed  in  each  during  the  past  year.  It  is  a  source  of  gratiti- 
cation  that,  while  they  have  been  constantly  prepared  for  any 
hostile  emergency,  they  have  everywhere  met  with  the  respect 
and  courtesy,  due  as  well  to  the  dignity  as  to  the  peaceful 
dispositions  and  just  purposes  of  the  nation. 

"The  two  brigantines  accepted  by  the  government  from  a 
generous  citizen  of  New  York,  and  placed  under  the  command 
of  an  officer  of  the  navy,  to  proceed  to  the  Arctic  seas  in  quest 
of  the  British  commander,  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  his  compan 
ions,  in  compliance  with  the  act  of  Congress,  approved  in  May 
last,  had,  when  last  heard  from,  penetrated  into  a  high  north 
ern  latitude ;  but  the  success  of  this  noble  and  humane  enter 
prise  is  yet  uncertain. 

"I  invite  your  attention  to  the  view  of  our  present  naval 
establishment  and  resources  presented  in  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  the  suggestions  therein  made  for 
its  improvement,  together  with  the  naval  policy  recommended 
for  the  security  of  our  Pacific  coast,  and  the  protection  and 
extension  of  our  commerce  with  Eastern  Asia.  Our  facilities 
for  a  larger  participation  in  the  trade  of  the  East,  by  means  of 
our  recent  settlements  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  are  too 
obvious  to  be  overlooked  or  disregarded. 

"The  questions  in  relation  to  rank  in  the  army  and  navy, 
and  relative  rank  between  officers  of  the  two  branches  of  the 
service,  presented  to  the  Executive  by  certain  resolutions  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  at  the  last  session  of  Congress, 
have  been  submitted  to  a  board  of  officers  in  each  branch  of 
the  service,  and  their  report  mav  be  expected  at  an  early  day. 

"I  also  earnestly  recommend  the  enactment  of  a  law  autho 
rizing  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  to  be  retired  from  the 
service,  when  incompetent  for  its  vigorous  and  active  duties, 
taking  care  to  make  suitable  provision  for  those  who  have  faith 
fully  served  their  country,  and  awarding  distinctions,  by  retain 
ing  in  appropriate  commands  those  who  have  been  particularly 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  171 

conspicuous  for  gallantry  and  good  conduct.  While  the  obli 
gation  of  the  country  to  maintain  and  honor  those  who,  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  pursuits,  have  devoted  themselves  to  its 
arduous  service,  this  obligation  should  not  be  permitted  to 
interfere  with  the  efficiency  of  the  service  itself. 

"I  am  gratified  in  being  able  to  state,  that  the  estimates  of 
expenditure  for  the  navy  in  the  ensuing  year  are  less,  by  more 
than  one  million  of  dollars,  than  those  of  the  present,  except 
ing  the  appropriation  which  may  become  necessary  for  the 
construction  of  a  dock  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  propositions 
for  which  are  now  being  considered,  and  on  which  a  special 
report  may  be  expected  early  in  your  present  session. 

"There  is  an  evident  justness  in  the  suggestion  of  the  same 
report,  that  appropriations  for  the  naval  service  proper  should 
be  separated  from  those  for  fixed  and  permanent  objects,  such 
as  building  docks  and  navy-yards,  and  the  fixtures  attached, 
and  from  the  extraordinary  objects  under  the  care  of  the  de 
partment,  which,  however  important,  are  not  essentially  naval. 

"A  revision  of  the  code  for  the  government  of  the  navy 
seems  to  require  the  immediate  consideration  of  Congress.  Its 
system  of  crimes  and  punishments  had  undergone  no  change 
for  half  a  century,  until  the  last  session,  though  its  defects 
have  been  often  and  ably  pointed  out,  and  the  abolition  of  a 
particular  species  of  corporal  punishment,  which  then  took 
place,  without  providing  any  substitute,  has  left  the  service  in 
a  state  of  defectiveness  which  calls  for  prompt  correction.  [ 
therefore  recommend  that  the  whole  subject  be  revised  with 
out  delay,  and  such  a  system  established  for  the  enforcement 
of  discipline,  as  shall  be  at  once  humane  and  effectual. 

"The  accompanying  report  of  the  postmaster-general  pre 
sents  a  satisfactory  view  of  the  operations  and  condition  of  that 
department. 

"At  the  close  of  the  last  fiscal  year,  the  length  of  the  inland 
mail  routes  in  the  United  States  (not  embracing  the  service  in 
Oregon  and  California)  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-two  miles;  the  annual  trans 
portation  thereon  forty-six  million  five  hundred  and  forty-one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  miles ;  and  the 
annual  cost  of  such  transportation  two  millions  seven  hun 
dred  and  twenty-four  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-six 
dollars. 


172  BIOGKAPIIY    OF   MILLABD   FILLMORE. 

"The  increase  of  the  annual  transportation  over  that  of  the 
preceding  year,  was  three  millions  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-four  miles,  and  the 
increase  in  cost  was  three  hundred  and  forty-two  thousand 
four  hundred  and  forty  dollars. 

''The  number  of  post-offices  in  the  United  States,  on  the 
first  day  of  July  last,  was  eighteen  thousand  four  hundred  and 
seventeen  —  being  an  increase  of  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy 
during  the  preceding  year. 

"The  gross  revenues  of  the  department  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30th,  1850,  amounted  to  five  millions  five  hun 
dred  and  fifty-two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-one 
dollars  and  forty-eight  cents,  including  the  annual  appropria 
tion  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  franked  matter 
of  the  departments,  and  excluding  the  foreign  postages  collected 
for  and  payable  to  the  British  government. 

"The  expenditures  for  the  same  period  were  five  millions 
two  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty-three 
dollars  and  forty-three  cents  —  leaving  a  balance  of  revenue 
over  expenditures  of  three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  and 
eighteen  dollars  and  five  cents. 

"  I  am  happy  to  find  that  the  fiscal  condition  of  the  depart 
ment  is  such  as  to  justify  the  postmaster-general  in  recommend 
ing  the  reduction  of  our  inland  letter  postage  to  three  cents 
the  single  letter  when  prepaid,  and  five  cents  when  not  prepaid. 
He  also  recommends  that  the  prepaid  rate  shall  be  reduced  to 
two  cents  whenever  the  revenues  of  the  department,  after  the 
reduction,  shall  exceed  its  expenditures  by  more  than  five  per 
cent,  for  two  consecutive  years;  that  the  postage  upon  Califor 
nia  and  other  letters  sent  by  our  ocean  steamers  shall  be  much 
reduced ;  and  that  the  rates  of  postage  on  newspapers,  pamph 
lets,  periodicals,  and  other  printed  matter,  shall  be  modified, 
and  some  reduction  thereon  made. 

"It  can  not  be  doubted  that  the  proposed  reductions  will,  for 
the  present,  diminish  the  revenues  of  the  department.  It  is 
believed  that  the  deficiency,  after  the  surplus  already  accumu 
lated  shall  be  exhausted,  may  be  almost  wholly  met,  either  by 
abolishing  the  existing  privileges  of  sending  free  matter  through 
the  mails,  or  by  paying  out  of  the  treasury  to  the  post-office 
department  a  sum  equivalent  to  the  postage  of  which  it  is  de 
prived  by  such  privileges.  The  last  is  supposed  to  be  the 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  173 

preferable  mode,  and  will,  if  not  entirely,  so  nearly  supply  that 
deficiency  as  to  make  any  further  appropriation  that  may  be 
found  necessary  so  inconsiderable  as  to  form  no  obstacle  to  the 
proposed  reductions. 

"I  entertain  no  doubt  of  the  authority  of  Congress  to  make 
appropriations  for  leading  objects  in  that  class  of  public  works 
comprising  what  are  usually  called  works  of  internal  improve 
ment.  This  authority  I  suppose  to*be  derived  chiefly  from  the 
power  of  regulating  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among 
the  States,  and  the  power  of  levying  and  collecting  imposts. 
Where  commerce  is  to  be  carried  on,  and  imposts  collected, 
there  must  be  ports  and  harbors,  as  well  as  wharves  and  cus 
tom-houses.  If  ships,  laden  with  valuable  cargoes,  approach 
the  shore,  or  sail  along  the  coast,  light-houses  are  necessary  at 
suitable  points  for  the  protection  of  life  and  property.  Other 
facilities  and  securities  for  commerce  and  navigation  are  hardly 
less  important;  and  those  clauses  of  the  constitution,  therefore, 
to  which  I  have  referred,  have  received  from  the  origin  of  the 
government  a  liberal  and  beneficial  construction.  Not  only 
have  light-houses,  buoys,  and  beacons  been  established,  and 
floating  lights  maintained,  but  harbors  have  been  cleared  and 
improved,  piers  constructed,  and  even  breakwaters  for  the 
safety  of  shipping,  and  sea  walls  to  protect  harbors  from  being 
filled  up,  and  rendered  useless,  by  the  action  of  the  ocean,  have 
been  erected  at  very  great  expense.  And  this  construction 
of  the  constitution  appears  the  more  reasonable  from  the  con 
sideration,  that  if  these  works,  of  such  evident  importance  and 
utility,  are  not  to  be  accomplished  by  Congress,  they  can  not 
be  accomplished  at  all.  By  the  adoption  of  the  constitution 
the  several  States  voluntarily  parted  with  the  power  of  collect 
ing  duties  of  impost  in  their  own  ports,  and  it  is  not  to  be  ex 
pected  that  they  should  raise  money,  by  internal  taxation, 
direct  or  indirect,  for  the  benefit  of  that  commerce,  the  reve 
nues  derived  from  which  do  not,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  go 
into  their  own  treasuries.  Nor  do  I  perceive  any  difference 
between  the  power  of  Congress  to  make  appropriations  for 
objects  of  this  kind  on  the  ocean  and  the  power  to  make  ap 
propriations  for  similar  objects  on  lakes  and  rivers,  wherever 
they  are  large  enough  to  bear  on  their  waters  an  extensive 
traffic.  The  magnificent  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  and 
the  vast  lakes  of  the  north  and  the  northwest,  appear  to  me  to 


174  BIOGKAPHY    OF    MILLARD   FILLMOKE. 

fall  within  the  exercise  of  the  power,  as  justly  and  as  clearly 
as  the  ocean  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  is  a  mistake  to  re 
gard  expenditures  judiciously  made  for  these  objects  as  expen 
ditures  for  local  purposes.  The  position,  or  site  of  the  work,  is 
necessarily  local ;  but  its  utility  is  general.  A  ship  canal  around 
the  falls  of  St.  Mary  of  less  than  a  mile  in  length,  though  local 
in  its  construction,  would  yet  be  national  in  its  purpose  and  its 
beneiits,  as  it  would  remove  the  only  obstruction  to  a  naviga 
tion  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles,  affecting  several  States,  as 
well  as  our  commercial  relations  with  Canada.  So,  too,  the 
breakwater  at  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware  is  erected,  not  for 
the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  States  bordering  on  the  bay  and 
river  of  that  name,  but  for  that  of  the  whole  coastwise  naviga 
tion  of  the  United  States,  and,  to  a  considerable  extent  also,  of 
foreign  commerce.  If  a  ship  be  lost  on  the  bar  at  the  entrance 
of  a  southern  port  for  want  of  sufficient  depth  of  water,  it  is 
very  likely  to  be  a  northern  ship ;  and  if  a  steamboat  be  sunk 
in  any  part  of  the  Mississippi,  on  account  of  its  channel  not 
having  been  properly  cleared  of  obstructions,  it  may  be  a  boat 
belonging  to  either  of  eight  or  ten  States.  I  may  add,  as  some 
what  remarkable,  that  among  ail  the  thirty-one  States,  there  is 
none  that  is  not,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  bounded  on  the 
ocean,  or  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  or  one  of  the  great  lakes,  or  some 
navigable  river. 

"in  fulfilling  our  constitutional  duties,  fellow-citizens,  on  this 
subject,  as  in  carrying  into  effect  all  other  powers  conferred  by 
the  constitution,  we  should  consider  ourselves  as  deliberating 
and  acting  for  one  and  the  same  country,  and  bear  constantly 
in  mind,  that  our  regard  and  our  duty  are  due,  not  to  a  par 
ticular  part  only,  but  to  the  whole. 

"1  therefore  recommend  that  appropriations  be  made  for 
completing  such  works  as  have  been  already  begun,  and  for 
commencing  such  others  as  may  seem  to  the  wisdom  of  Con- 
^gress  to  be  of  public  and  general  importance. 

"The  difficulties  and  delays,  incident  to  the  settlement  of 
private  claims  by  Congress,  amount  in  many  cases  to  a  denial 
of  justice.  There  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  many  unfortu 
nate  creditors  of  the  government  have  thereby  been  unavoid 
ably  ruined.  Congress  has  so  much  business  of  a  public 
character,  that  it  is  impossible  it  should  give  much  attention 
to  mere  private  claims,  and  their  accumulation  is  now  so  great 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  175 

that  many  claimants  must  despair  of  ever  being  able  to  obtain 
*a  hearing.  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  Congress,  from 
the  nature  of  its  organization,  is  properly  constituted  to  decide 
upon  such  cases.  It  is  impossible  that  each  member  should 
examine  the  merits  of  every  claim  on  which  he  is  compelled  to 
vote;  and  it  is  preposterous  to  ask  a  judge  to  decide  a  case 
which  he  has  never  heard.  Such  decisions  may,  and  frequent 
ly  must,  do  injustice  either  to  the  claimant  or  the  government; 
and  I  perceive  no  better  remedy  for  this  growing  evil  than  the 
establishment  of  some  tribunal  to  adjudicate  upon  such  claims. 
I  beg  leave,  therefore,  most  respectfully  to  recommend  that 
provision  be  made  by  law  for  the  appointment  of  a  commission, 
to  settle  all  private  claims  against  the  United  States;  and,  as 
an  ex  parte  hearing  must  in  all  contested  cases  be  very  unsat 
isfactory,  I  also  recommend  the  appointment  of  a  solicitor, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  represent  the  government  before 
such  commission,  and  protect  it  against  all  illegal,  fraudulent 
or  unjust  claims,  which  may  be  presented  for  their  adjudication. 

"This  district,  which  has  neither  voice  nor  vote  in  your  de 
liberations,  looks  to  you  for  protection  and  aid,  and  I  commend 
all  its  wants  to  your  favorable  consideration,  with  a  full  confi 
dence  that  you  will  meet  them  not  only  with  justice,  but  with 
liberality.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  this  city,  laid 
out  by  Washington,  and  consecrated  by  his  name,  is  located 
the  capitol  of  our  nation,  the  emblem  of  our  Union  and  the 
symbol  of  our  greatness.  Here  also  are  situated  all  the  public 
buildings  necessary  for  the  use  of  the  government,  and  all 
these  are  exempt  from  taxation.  It  should  bo  the  pride  of 
Americans  to  render  this  place  attractive  to  the  people  of  the 
whole  Republic,  and  convenient  and  safe  for  the  transaction 
of  the  public  business  and  the  preservation  of  the  public 
records.  The  government  should,  therefore,  bear  a  liberal 
proportion  of  the  burdens  of  all  necessary  and  useful  improve 
ments  ;  and  as  nothing  could  contribute  more  to  the  health, 
comfort,  and  safety  of  the  city,  and  the  security  of  the  public 
buildings  and  records,  than  an  abundant  supply  of  pure  water, 
I  respectfully  recommend  that  you  make  such  provisions  for 
obtaining  the  same  as  in  your  wisdom  you  may  deem  proper. 

"The  act  passed  at  your  last  session,  making  certain  propo 
sitions  to  Texas  for  settling  the  disputed  boundary  between  that 
State  and  the  territory  of  New  Mexico,  was,  immediately  on  its 


176  BIOGRAPHY  ,OF   MILLAED    FII.LMOKE. 

passage,  transmitted  by  express  to  the  Governor  of  Texas,  to 
be  laid  by  him  before  the  General  Assembly  for  its  agreement 
thereto.  Its  receipt  was  duly  acknowledged,  but  no  official 
information  has  yet  been  received  of  the  action  of  the  General 
Assembly  thereon;  it  may,  however,  be  very  soon  expected, 
as,  by  the  terms  of  the  propositions  submitted,  they  were  to 
have  been  acted  upon,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  the  present 
month. 

"  It  was  hardly  to  have  been  expected  that  the  series  of 
measures  passed  at  your  last  session,  with  the  view  of  healing 
the  sectional  differences  which  had  sprung  from  the  slavery 
and  territorial  questions,  should  a-t  once  have  realized  their 
beneficent  purposes.  All  mutual  concession  in  the  nature  of  a 
compromise  must  necessarily  be  unwelcome  to  men  of  extreme 
opinions.  And  though  without  such  concessions  our  constitu 
tion  could  not  have  been  formed,  and  can  not  be  permanently 
sustained,  yet  we  have  seen  them  made  the  subject  of  bitter 
controversy  in  both  sections  of  the  Ivepublic.  It  required 
many  months  of  discussion  and  deliberation  to  secure  the  con 
currence  of  a  majority  of  Congress  in  their  favor.  It  would  be 
strange  if  they  had  been  received  with  immediate  approbation 
by  people  and  States,  prejudiced  and  heated  by  the  exciting 
controversies  of  their  representatives.  I  believe  those  meas 
ures  to  have  been  required  by  the  circumstances  and  condition 
of  the  country.  I  believe  they  were  necessary  to  allay  asper 
ities  and  animosities  that  were  rapidly  alienating  one  section 
of  the  country  from  another,  and  destroying  those  fraternal 
sentiments  which  are  the  strongest  supports  of  the  constitu 
tion.  They  were  adopted  in  the  spirit  of  conciliation,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  conciliation.  I  believe  that  a  great  majority  of 
our  fellow-citizens  sympathize  in  that  spirit,  and  that  purpose, 
and  in  the  main  approve,  and  are  prepared,  in  all  respects,  to 
sustain  these  enactments.  I  can  not  doubt  that  the  American 
people,  bound  together  by  kindred  blood  and  common  tradi 
tions,  still  cherish  a  paramount  regard  for  the  Union  of  their 
fathers,  and  that  they  are  ready  to  rebuke  any  attempt  to  vio 
late  its  integrity,  to  disturb  the  compromises  on  which  it  is 
based,  or  to  resist  the  laws  which  have  been  enacted  under  its 
authority. 

"The  series  of  measures  to  which  I  have  alluded  are  re 
garded  by  me  as  a  settlement,  in  principle  and  substance  —  a 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  177 

final  settlement  of  the  dangerous  and  exciting  subjects  which 
they  embraced.  Most  of  these  subjects,  indeed,  are'  beyond 
your  reach,  as  the  legislation  which  disposed  of  them  was,  in 
its  character,  final  and  irrevocable.  It  may  be  presumed  from 
the  opposition  which  they  all  encountered  that  none  of  those 
measures  were  free  from  imperfections,  but  in  their  mutual  de 
pendence  and  connection  they  formed  a  system  of  compromise, 
the  most  conciliatory,  and  best  for  the  entire  country,  that  could 
be  obtained  from  conflicting  sectional  interests  and  opinions. 

"For  this  reason  I  recommend  your  adherence  to  the  ad 
justment  established  by  those  measures,  until  time  and  expe 
rience  shall  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  further  legislation-  to 
guard  against  evasion  or  abuse. 

"By  that  adjustment  we  have  been  rescued  from  the  wide 
and  boundless  agitation  that  surrounded  us,  and  have  a  firm, 
distinct,  and  legal  ground  to  rest  upon.  And  the  occasion,  I 
trust,  will  justify  me  in  exhorting  my  countrymen  to  rally  upon 
and  maintain  that  ground  as  the  best,  if  not  the  only  means 
of  restoring  peace  and  quiet  to  the  country,  and  maintaining 
inviolate  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 

"And  now,  fellow-citizens,  I  can  not  bring  this  communica 
tion  to  a  close  without  invoking  you  to  join  me  in  humble  and 
devout  thanks  to  the  Great  Ruler  of  nations,  for  the  multiplied 
blessings  which  he  has  graciously  bestowed  upon  us.  His 
hand,  so  often  visible  in  our  preservation,  has  stayed  the  pesti 
lence,  saved  us  from  foreign  wars  and  domestic  disturbances, 
and  scattered  plenty  throughout  the  land. 

"Our  liberties,  religious  and  civil,  have  been  maintained; 
the  fountains  of  knowledge  have  all  been  kept  open,  and  means 
of  happiness  widely  spread  and  generally  enjoyed,  greater  than 
have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  other  nation.  And,  while  deeply 
penetrated  with  gratitude  for  the  past,  let  us  hope  that  his 
all-wise  Providence  will  so  guide  our  counsels,  as  that  they 
shall  result  in  giving  satisfaction  to  our  constituents,  securing 
the  peace  of  the  country,  and  adding  new  strength  to  the 
united  government  under  which  we  live. 

"MlLLARD  FlLLMORE. 

"WASHINGTON,  December  2d,  1850." 

As  there  was  a  large  political  majority  against  the  President 
in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  none  of  his  excellent  recommend8 
S* 


178         ,       BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

ations  requiring  legislation  were  adopted,  except  those  for  an 
asylum  for  disabled  and  destitute  seamen,  and  for  the  settle 
ment  of  land  claims  in  California,  and  the -survey -of  the  public 
lands.  A  bill  making  appropriations  for  the  improvement  of 
rivers  and  harbors  passed  the  House,  but  was  defeated  in  the 
Senate,  by  Senators  "talking  against  time"  on  the  last  day 
of  the  session,  and  preventing  a  vote  until  the  constitutional 
term  of  Congress  had  expired. 


CUBA   AND   THE   FILIBUSTERS.  179 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CUBA     AND     THE     FILLIBUS  T  E  RS. 

The  able  and  patriotic  message  which  we  have  copied  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  furnishes  abundant  proof  of  the  wisdom  of 
Mr.  Fillmore's  views  on  questions  of  domestic  policy.  He 
labored  during  the  whole  period  of  his  administration  under 
the  disadvantage  of  an  adverse  political  majority  in  Congress; 
but  the  fact  that  all  his  recommendations  were  not  immediate 
ly  adopted,  did  not  impair  his  confidence  in  their  propriety,  and 
he  repeated  such  as  remained  unacted  on,  in  subsequent  annual 
messages. 

Important  as  it  is  that  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation 
should  entertain  sound  and  enlightened  opinions  on  domestic 
questions,  it  can  hardly  be  disputed  that  his  foreign  policy  is 
fraught  with  still  weightier  consequences.  In  a  country  like 
ours,  whose  commerce  is  second  to  that  of  none  on  the  globe, 
whose  sails  whiten  every  sea,  and  whose  flag  is  seen  in  every 
port,  the  most  important  of  all  our  interests  is  the  preservation 
of  peace  and  friendly  relations  with  the  other  powers  of  the 
world.  Our  foreign  relations  are  more  especially  committed 
to  the  management  of  the  national  executive,  than  any  other 
branch  of  the  diversified  interests  which  require  the  protection 
of  the  government.  The  influence  of  the  President  on  the 
domestic  policy  of  the  country  is  comparatively  limited.  So 
far  as  he  is  an  executive  officer,  he  has  no  choice  but  to  enforce 
the  laws  as  they  actually  exist,  whatever  may  be  his  opinion 
of  their  wisdom.  In  the  enaction  of  laws,  he  has  merely  the 


180  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLARD    FILLMOKE. 

power  of  making  recommendations  which  Congress  adopts  or 
rejects  at  its  pleasure.  The  veto  power  gives  him  a  check  on 
hasty  or  unconstitutional  legislation ;  but  the  occasions  are  rare 
on  which  the  President  would  judge  it  necessary  to  thwart  the 
will  of  Congress,  and  even  then,  things  are  merely  left  as  they 
were.  But  while  he  is  thus  powerless  to  impress  any  change 
on  the  domestic  policy  of  the  country,  all  changes  in  its  foreign 
policy  are  entirely  in  his  hands.  The  Senate  may  revise  his 
action  and  refuse  to  ratify  treaties  negotiated  by  his  authority, 
but  they  have  no  power  to  initiate  anything,  nor  any  other 
choice  than  either  to  sanction  the  foreign  policy  of  the  execu 
tive  or  leave  matters  in  their  former  condition.  The  President 
negotiates  treaties  which,  when  ratified,  become  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land;  he  receives  and  dismisses  foreign  ambassa 
dors;  he  recognizes  or  refuses  to  recognize  governments  that 
have  been  newly  established;  he  orders  our  naval  forces  to 
whatever  part  of  the  world,  and  charges  them  with  whatever 
duties  he  pleases;  and  by  the  exercise  of  these  powers  he  can 
promote  or  imperil  the  prosperity  of  the  country  to  an  extent 
which  is  impossible  by  his  participation  in  measures  of  domes 
tic  legislation.  When  the  people  are  deliberating  on  the  choice 
of  a  chief  magistrate,  they  should  never  overlook  the  important 
fact,  that  while  the  domestic  policy  of  the  country  is  more 
especially  under  the  control  of  Congress,  its  foreign  policy  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  President,  and  demands  that  he  should  be 
a  wise,  firm,  experienced,  and  patriotic  statesman.  The  party 
which  have  nominated  Mr.  Fillmore  appeal  with  confidence  to 
the  history  of  his  administration  for  sure  guaranties  that  the 
honor  and  interests  of  the  country  would  be  safe  in  his  hands, 
so  far  as  they  can  be  affected  by  the  management  of  our  for 
eign  relations. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  session  of  Congress  to  which  Mr. 
Fillmore's  first  message  was  addressed,  the  public  prints  were 
filled  with  rumors  of  a  new  expedition  against  Cuba,  which 


CUBA    AND   THE   FILIBUSTERS.  181 

was  to  sail  from  some  of  our  southern  ports.  Armed  expedi 
tions  against  a  foreign  country  with  which  we  are  at  peace,  are 
in  direct  violation  of  our  laws,  and  the  President  thought  it  his 
duty  to  issue  the  following  proclamation : 

"Whereas,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  military  expedi 
tion  is  about  to  be  fitted  out  in  the  United  States  with  in 
tention  to  invade  the  island  of  Cuba,  a  colony  of  Spain,  with 
which  this  country  is  at  peace;  and  whereas  it  is  believed  thai 
this  expedition  is  instigated  and  set  on  foot  chiefly  by  foreign 
ers,  who  dare  to  make  our  shores  the  scene  of  their  guilty  and 
hostile  preparations  against  a  friendly  power,  and  seek,  by 
falsehood  and  misrepresentation,  to  seduce  our  own  citizens, 
especially  the  young  and  inconsiderate,  into  their  wicked 
schemes  —  an  ungrateful  return  for  the  benefits  conferred 
upon  them  by  this  people  in  permitting  them  to  make  our 
country  an  asylum  from  oppression,  and  in  flagrant  abuse  of 
the  hospitality  thus  extended  to  them. 

"And  whereas,  such  expeditions  can  only  be  regarded  as 
adventures  for  plunder  and  robbery,  and  must  meet  the  con 
demnation  of  the  civilized  world,  whilst  they  are  derogatory  to 
the  character  of  our  country,  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  nations, 
and  expressly  prohibited  by  our  own.  Our  statutes  declare, 
'that,  it  any  person  shall,  within  the  territory  or  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States,  begin  or  set  on  foot,  or  provide  or  pre 
pare  the  means  for  any  military  expedition  or  enterprise,  to  be 
carried  on  from  thence  against  the  territory  or  dominions  of 
any  foreign  Prince  or  State,  or  of  any  colony,  district,  or  people, 
with  whom  the  United  States  are  at  peace,  every  person  so 
offending  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor,  and 
shall  be  fined  not  exceeding  three  thousand  dollars,  and  im 
prisoned  not  more  than  three  years.' 

"Now,  therefore,  I  have  issued  this,  my  proclamation,  warn 
ing  all  persons  who  shall  connect  themselves  with  any  such 
enterprise  or  expedition,  in  violation  of  our  laws  and  national 
obligations,  that  they  will  thereby  subject  themselves  to  the 
heavy  penalties  denounced  against  such  offenders,  and  will  for 
feit  their  claim  to  the  protection  of  this  government,  or  any 
interference  on  their  behalf,  no  matter  to  what  extremities  they 
may  be  reduced  in  consequence  of  their  illegal  conduct.  And, 


182  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

therefore,  I  exhort  all  good  citizens,  as  they  regard  our  national 
reputation,  as  they  respect  their  own  laws  and  the  laws  of  na 
tions,  as  they  value  the  blessings  of  peace  and  the  welfare  of 
their  country,  to  discountenance,  and  by  all  lawful  means  pre 
vent,  any  such  enterprise ;  and  I  call  upon  every  officer  of  this 
government,  civil  or  military,  to  use  all  efforts  in  his  power  to 
arrest  for  trial  and  punishment  every  such  offender  against  the 
laws  of  the  country. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  April,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-one,  and 
the  seventy-fifth  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States. 

"  MILLARD  FILLMORE. 
"By  the  President: 

"W.  S.  DERRICK,  Acting  Secretary  of  State." 


If  this  proclamation  warning  them  of  the  consequences  of 
their  rash  and  unlawful  enterprise,  rendered  the  fillibusters 
more  guarded  and  cautious,  it  did  not  lead  them  to  relinquish 
their  designs.  As  several  months  elapsed  before  their  prepar 
ations  were  matured,  we  will  relate  some  intervening  occur 
rences,  before  completing  the  history  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  policy 
in  relation  to  Cuba. 

The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  the  most  costly  work  of 
the  kind  in  the  United  States,  had  just  been  finished,  and  the 
President  and  his  cabinet  had  been  invited  to  assist,  in  cele 
brating  its  completion.  The  interest  which  Mr.  Fillmore  had 
always  felt  in  works  of  internal  improvement  led  him  to  accept 
the  invitation,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  May,  1851, 
he  left  Washington  accompanied  by  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Critten- 
den,  Mr.  Graham,  and  Mr.  Hall.  Several  months  had  elapsed 
since  the  passage  of  the  compromise  measures,  and  notwith 
standing  the  clamorous  opposition  of  anti-slavery  fanatics  to  the 
execution  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  the  public  mind  was  settling 
into  acquiescence.  But  it  was  not  anticipated  that  the  people 
of  the  northern  States  were  so  soon  ready  to  testify,  by  the 
most  impressive  demonstrations,  their  warm  approbation  of  that 


TOUR   TO    THE    NORTH.  183 

settlement  regarded  as  a  whole,  and  their  lively  admiration  of 
the  patriotism  which  had  been  willing  to  incur  reproach  in  the 
cause  of  the  Union.  All  the  way  from  Washington  to  Lake 
Erie  the  presidential  tour  was  a  triumphal  progress.  Nothing 
was  ever  more  spontaneous,  cordial  and  enthusiastic  than  the 
greetings  with  which  the  President  and  his  party  were  wel 
comed.  At  Baltimore,  at  Philadelphia,  at  New  York,  at  Buf 
falo,  at  Rochester,  at  all  the  intermediate  towns,  at  every 
railroad  station,  multitudes  thronged  to  see  the  President  and 
pay  him  their  respects.  Processions  were  formed,  flags  with 
complimentary  devices  and  mottoes  were  displayed,  banquets 
were  spread,  speeches  were  made,  and  all  the  cities  through 
which  he  passed  vied  with  each  other  in  the  warmth,  the 
heartiness,  and  the  extent  of  their  demonstrations.  Never 
since  the  presidential  tour  of  Mr.  Monroe,  in  1817,  had  a  Pres 
ident  been  received  through  the  country  with  such  hospitable 
and  enthusiastic  cordiality.-  Party  spirit  seemed  to  have  been 
forgotten,  and  every  man  was  anxious  to  testify  his  admiration 
of  the  eminent  services  of  an  honest  and  faithful  public  servant. 
From  this  succession  of  splendid  ovations,  Mr.  Fillmore  returned 
to  Washington,  on  the  24th  of  May,  after  an  absence  of  twelve 
days.  It  must  have  been  gratifying  to  him,  after  the  obloquy 
he  had  braved  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  to  find  that  the 
praise  of  patriotic  intentions  and  statesmanlike  conduct  was 
freely  awarded  him  in  that  section  of  the  country  where  it  was 
supposed  his  course  would  have  proved  least  acceptable. 
Everywhere  during  his  tour,  the  voice  of  factious  opposition 
had  been  hushed,  and  there  had  been  no  discord  to  mar  the 
general  harmony. 

A  few  weeks  after  his  return  to  Washington,  the  cares  of 
office  were  relieved  by  an  interesting  event,  in  which  he  par 
ticipated.  Congress,  during  the  preceding  session,  had  made 
an  appropriation  for  the  extension  of  the  Capitol  according  to 
such  plan  as  might  be  offered  by  the  President.  By  the  plan 


184:  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

which  he  adopted  two  wings  were  to  be  added  to  the  previous 
edifice,  connected  with  it  by  corridors.  Excavations  for.  the 
foundation  were  immediately  commenced,  and  agreeably  to  the 
wishes  of  the  President,  the  work  was  in  sufficient  forwardness 
to  allow  the  corner  stone  to  be  laid  on  the  fourth  of  July. 
This  was  done  by  the  President's  own  hand,  with  imposing 
ceremonies,  and  amid  a  great  concourse  of  people,  who  were 
eloquently  addressed  by  Mr.  Webster,  the  Secretary  of  State. 
The  President  was  assisted  in  laying  the  corner  stone  by  the 
Grand  Master  of  the  Masonic  Grand  Lodge,  who  wore  the 
same  regalia  and  used  the  identical  gavel  which  Washington 
had  used  fifty-eight  years  before  in  laying  the  corner  stone 
of  the  original  edifice. 

During  an  interval  of  apparent  quiet  since  the  publication 
of  the  President's  proclamation,  the  filibusters  had  not  been 
idle.  The  memorable  and  disastrous  expedition  of  Lopez  was 
fitted  out,  and  sailed  from  the  port  of  New  Orleans  by  the 
connivance  of  the  collector.  The  history  of  that  unfortunate 
affair  was  so  clearly  and  succinctly  given  in  the  President's 
next  annual  message  to  Congress,  that  we  transcribe  that  por 
tion  of  the  message  which  relates  to  it : 

"Very  early  in  the  morning  of  the  third  of  August,  a 
steamer  called  the  Pampero  departed  from  New  Orleans  for 
Cuba,  having  on  board  upwards  of  four  hundred  armed  men, 
with  evident  intentions  to  make  war  upon  the  authorities  of 
the  island.  This  expedition  was  set  on  foot  in  palpable  viola 
tion  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  Its  leader  was  a  Span 
iard,  and  several  of  the  chief  officers,  and  some  others  engaged 
in  it,  were  foreigners.  The  persons  composing  it,  however,  were 
mostly  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

"Before  the  expedition  set  out,  and  probably  before  it  was 
organized,  a  slight  insurrectionary  movement,  which  appears  to 
have  been  soon  suppressed,  had  taken  place  in  the  eastern 
quarter  of  Cuba.  The  importance  of  this  movement  was  un 
fortunately  so  much  exaggerated  in  the  accounts  of  it  published 
in  this  country,  that  these  adventurers  seem  to  have  been  led 


HIE   LOPEZ    EXPEDITION.  185 

to  believe  that  the  Creole  population  of  the  island  not  only  de 
sired  to  throw  off  the  authority  of  the  mother  country,  but  had 
resolved  upon  that  step,  and  had  begun  a  well-concerted  enter 
prise  for  effecting  it.  The  persons  engaged  in  the  expedition 
were  generally  young  and  ill-informed.  The  steamer  in  which 
they  embarked  left  New  Orleans  stealthily  and  without  a 
clearance.  After  touching  at  Key  West,  she  proceeded  to  the 
coast  of  Cuba,  and,  on  the  night  between  the  llth  and  12th 
of  August,  landed  the  persons  on  board  at  Playtas,  within 
about  twenty  leagues  of  Havana. 

"  The  main  body  of  them  proceeded  to,  and  took  possession 
of,  an  inland  village,  six  leagues  distant,  leaving  others  to  fol 
low  in  charge  of  the  baggage,  as  soon  as  the  means  of  trans 
portation  could  be  obtained.  The  latter,  having  taken  up  their 
line  of  march  to  connect  themselves  with  the  main  body,  and 
having  proceeded  about  four  leagues  into  the  country,  were 
attacked  on  the  morning  of  the  13th  by  a  body  of  Spanish 
troops,  and  a  bloody  con6ict  ensued;  after  which  they  re 
treated  to  the  place  of  disembarkation,  where  about  fifty  of 
them  obtained  boats  and  reembarked  therein.  They  were, 
however,  intercepted  among  the  keys  near  the  shore  by  a 
Spanish  steamer  cruising  on  the  coast,  captured,  and  carried  to 
Havana,  and,  after  being  examined  before  a  military  court, 
were  sentenced  to  be  publicly  executed,  and  the  sentence  was 
carried  into  effect  on  the  16th  of  August. 

"On  receiving  information  of  what  had  occurred,  Commodore 
Foxliall  A.  Parker  was  instructed  to  proceed  in  the  steam- 
frigate  Saranac  to  Havana,  and  inquire  into  the  charges  against 
the  persons  executed,  the  circumstances  under  which  they 
were  taken,  and  whatsoever  referred  to  their  trial  and  sentence. 
Copies  of  the  instructions  from  the  Department  of  State  to 
him,  and  of  his  letters  to  that  department,  are  herewith  sub 
mitted. 

"According  to  the  record  of  the  examination,  the  prisoners  all 
admitted  the  offenses  charged  against  them,  of  being  hostile 
invaders  of  the  island.  At  the  time  of  their  trial  and  execu 
tion,  the  main  body  of  the  invaders  was  still  in  the  field,  mak 
ing  war  upon  the  Spanish  authorities  and  Spanish  subjects. 
After  the  lapse  of  some  days,  being  overcome  by  the  Spanish 
troops,  they  dispersed  on  the  24th  of  August.  Lopez,  their 
leader,  was  captured  some  days  after,  and  executed  on  the  1st 


186  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

of  September.  Many  of  his  remaining  followers  were  killed, 
or  died  of  hunger  and  fatigue,  and  the  rest  were  made  pris 
oners.  Of  these  none  appear  to  have  been  tried  or  executed. 
Several  of  them  were  pardoned  upon  application  of  their 
friends  and  others,  and  the  rest,  about  one  hundred  and  sixty 
in  number,  were  sent  to  Spain.  Of  the  final  disposition  made 
of  these  we  have  no  official  information. 

"  Such  is  the  melancholy  result  of  this  illegal  and  ill-fated 
expedition.  Thus,  thoughtless  young  men  have  been  induced, 
by  false  and  fraudulent  representations,  to  violate  the  law  of 
their  country,  through  rasli  and  unfounded  expectations  of 
assisting  to  accomplish  political  revolutions  in  other  States,  and 
have  lost  their  lives  in  the  undertaking.  Too  severe  a  judg 
ment  can  hardly  be  passed,  by  the  indignant  sense  of  the  com 
munity,  upon  those  who,  being  better  informed  themselves, 
have  yet  led  away  the  ardor  of  youth,  and  an  ill-directed 
love  of  political  liberty.  The  correspondence  between  tnis 
government  and  that  of  Spain  relating  to  this  transaction  is 
herewith  communicated. 

"Although  these  offenders  against  the  laws  have  forfeited  the 
protection  of  their  country,  yet  the  government  may,  so  far  as 
is  consistent  with  its  obligations  to  other  countries,  and  its  fixed 
purpose  to  maintain  and  enforce  the  laws,  entertain  sym- 
pathv  for  their  unoffending  families  and  friends,  as  well  as  a 
feeling  of  compassion  for  themselves.  Accordingly  no  proper 
effort 'has  been  spared,  and  none  will  be  spared,  to  procure 
the  release  of  such  citizens  of  the  United  States,  engaged  in 
this  unlawful  enterprise,  as  are  now  in  confinement  in  Spain ; 
but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  such  interposition  with  the  govern 
ment  of  that  country  may  not  be  considered  as  affording  any 
ground  of  expectation  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  will,  hereafter,  feel  itself  under  any  obligation  of  duty 
to  intercede  for  the  liberation  or  pardon  of  such  persons  as 
are  flagrant  offenders  against  the  law  of  nations  -and  the  laws 
of  the  United  States.  These  laws  must  be  executed.  If  we 
desire  to  maintain  our  respectability  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  it  behooves  us  to  enforce  steadily  the  neutrality  acts 
passed  by  Congress,  and  to  follow,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  vio 
lation  of  those  acts  with  condign  punishment. 

"  But  what  gives  a  peculiar  criminality  to  this  invasion  of 
Cuba  is,  that  under  the  lead  of  Spanish  subjects,  and  with  the 


THE   LOPEZ   EXPEDITION.  187 

aid  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  it  had  its  origin,  with 
many,  in  motives  of  cupidity.  Money  was  advanced  by  indi 
viduals,  probably  in  Considerable  amounts,  to  purchase  Cuban 
bonds,  as  they  have  been  called,  issued  by  Lopez,  sold,  doubt 
less,  at  a  very  large  discount,  and  for  the  payment  of  which 
the  public  lands  and  public  property  of  Cuba,  of  whatever 
kind,  and  the  fiscal  resources  of  the  people  and  government 
of  that  island,  from  whatever  source  to  be  derived,  were 
pledged,  as  well  as  the  good  faith  of  the  government  expected 
to  be  established.  All  these  means  of  payment,  it  is  evident, 
were  only  to  be  obtained  by  a  process  of  bloodshed,  war,  and 
revolution.  None  will  deny  that  those  who  set  on  foot  military 
expeditions  against  foreign  states  by  means  like  these,  are  far 
more  culpable  than  the  ignorant  and  the  necessitous  whom 
they  induce  to  go  forth  as  the  ostensible  parties  in  the  proceed 
ing.  These  originators  of  the  invasion  of  Cuba  seem  to  have 
determined,  with  coolness  and  system,  upon  an  undertaking 
which  should  disgrace  their  country,  violate  its  laws,  and  put 
to  hazard  the  lives  of  ill-informed  and  deluded  men.  You  will 
consider  whether  further  legislation  be  necessary  to  prevent 
the  perpetration  of  such  offenses  in  future. 

"  No  individuals  have  a  right  to  hazard  the  peace  of  the 
country,  or  to  violate  its  laws,  upon  vague  notions  of  altering 
or  reforming  governments  in  other  states.  This  principle  is 
not  only  reasonable  in  itself,  and  in  accordance  with  public 
law,  but  is  engrafted  into  the  codes  of  other  nations  as -well 
as  our  own.  But  while  such  are  the  sentiments  of  this  govern 
ment,  it  may  be  added  that  every  independent  nation  must 
be  presumed  to  be  able  to  defend  its  possessions  against  unau 
thorized  individuals  banded  together  to  attack  them.  The 
government  of  the  United  States,  at  all  times  since  its  estab 
lishment,  has  abstained,  and  has  sought  to  restrain  the  citizens 
of  the  country  from  entering  into  controversies  between  other 
powers,  and  to  observe  all  the  duties  of  neutrality.  At  an 
early  period  of  the  government,  in  the  administration  of  Wash 
ington,  several  laws  were  passed  for  this  purpose.  The  main 
provisions  of  these  laws  were  reenacted  by  the  act  of  April, 
1818,  by  which,  amongst  other  things,  it  was  declared  that, 
if  any  person  shall,  within  the  territory  or  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States,  begin,  or  set  on  foot,  or  provide  or  prepare  the 
means  for  any  military  expedition  or  enterprise,  to  be  carried 


188  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOBE. 

on  from  thence  against  the  territory  or  dominion  of  any  foreign 
prince  or  state,  or  of  any  colony,  district  or  people,  with  whom 
the  United  States  are  at  peace,  every 'person  so  offending 
shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor,  and  shall  be 
fined,  not  exceeding  three  thousand  dollars,  and  imprisoned 
not  more  than  three  years;  and  this  law  has  been  executed 
and  enforced,  to  the  full  extent  of  the  power  of  the  govern 
ment,  from  that  day  to  this. 

"  In  proclaiming  and  adhering  to  the  doctrine  of  neutrality 
and  non-intervention,  the  United  States  have  not  followed  the 
lead  of  other  civilized  nations ;  they  have  taken  the  lead  them 
selves,  and  have  been  followed  by  others.  This  was  admitted 
by  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  modern  British  statesmen, 
who  said  in  Parliament,  while  a  minister  of  the  crown,  that, 
*  if  he  wished  for  a  system  of  neutrality,  he  should  take  that 
laid  down  by  America  in  the  days  of  Washington  and  the 
secretaryship  of  Jefferson ; '  and  we  see,  in  fact,  that  the  act 
of  Congress  of  1818  was  followed,  the  succeeding  year,  by 
an  act  of  the  Parliament  of  England,  substantially  the  same 
in  its  general  provisions.  Up  to  that  time  there  had  been  no 
similar  law  in  England,  except  certain  highly  penal  statutes 
passed  in  the  reign  of  George  II,  prohibiting  English  subjects 
from  enlisting  in  foreign  service,  the  avowed  object  of  which 
statutes  was,  that  foreign  armies,  raised  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  the  house  of  Stuart  to  the  throne,  should  not  be 
strengthened  by  recruits  from  England  herself. 

"All  must  see  that  difficulties  may  arise  in  carrying  the 
laws  referred  to  into  execution  in  a  country  now  having  three 
or  four  thousand  miles  of  sea-coast,  with  an  infinite  number 
of  ports  and  harbors,  and  small  inlets,  from  some  of  which 
unlawful  expeditions  may  suddenly  set  forth,  without  the 
knowledge  of  government,  against  the  possessions  of  foreign 
states. 

"  Friendly  relations  with  all,  but  entangling  alliances  with 
none,  has  long  been  a  maxim  with  us.  Our  true  mission  is 
not  to  propagate  our  opinions,  or  impose  upon  other  countries 
our  form  of  government,  by  artifice  or  force :  but  to  teach  by 
example,  and  show  by  our  success,  moderation  and  justice, 
the  blessings  of  self-government,  and  the  advantages  of  free 
institutions.  Let  every  people  choose  for  itself,  and  make  and 
alter  its  political  institutions  to  suit  its  own  condition  and  con- 


THE  LOPEZ   EXPEDITION.  189 

venience.  But,  while  we  avow  and  maintain  this  neutral  policy 
ourselves,  we  are  anxious  to  see  the  same  forbearance  on  the 
part  of  other  nations,  whose  forms  of  government  are  different 
from  our  own.  The  deep  interest  which  we  feel  in  the  spread 
of  liberal  principles  and  the  establishment  of  free  governments, 
and  the  sympathy  with  which  we  witness  every  struggle 
against  oppression,  forbid  that  we  should  be  indifferent  to  a 
case  in  which  the  strong  arm  of  a  foreign  power  is  invoked  to 
stifle  public  sentiment  and  repress  the  spirit  of  freedom  in  any 
country." 

That  portion  of  the  misguided  followers  of  Lopez  who  were 
sent  to  Spain  were  finally  pardoned,  and  Congress  provided 
for  their  expenses  home.  The  collector  of  New  Orleans  was 
removed  from  office  for  neglect  of  duty,  and  the  Pampero  was 
seized  by  order  of  government,  near  Jackson,  Florida,  and 
tried,  condemned,  and  sold,  for  a  violation  of  our  neutrality  laws. 

President  Fillmore's  course  in  relation  to  Cuba  was  very 
generally  approved  by  the  country.  The  fundamental  prin 
ciple  of  his  policy  was,  that  the  people  of  one  nation  are  no 
proper  judges  of  the  political  necessities  of  another,  particularly 
when  they  differ  in  language,  religion,  habits  of  thought,  tra 
ditions,  prejudices,  and  training.  By  a  powerful  and  instinctive 
impulse,  every  people  indignantly  repel  foreign  interference  in 
their  government;  and  this  spontaneous  dictate  of  patriotism 
is  reinforced  by  the  conclusions  of  the  calmest  and  most 
enlightened  reason.  None  except  tfiose  who  live  among  a 
people,  and  share  their  feelings  and  prejudices,  are  proper 
iudf-es  of  the  kind  of  p'overnment  that  is  suited  to  their 

JO  O 

wants.  It  is  therefore  as  absurd  in  itself  as  it  is  contrary  to 
the  law  of  nations,  for  one  people  to  attempt  to  revolutionize 
the  government  of  another.  This  principle,  which  lay  at  the 
foundation  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  foreign  policy,  is  also  the  cardinal 
principle  of  the  American  party.  It  matters  little  whether  a 
foreign  people,  who  have  no  appreciation  of  our  political  wants, 
attempt  to  subvert  our  institutions  by  the  force  of  arms  or  the 


190  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

agency  of  the  ballot  box.  In  either  case  they  are  meddling 
with  matters  they  do  not  understand,  and  exercise  a  kind  of 
interference  which  a  patriotic  spirit  can  not  brook. 

Although  it  will  involve  a  departure  from  strict  chrono 
logical  order,  we  will  complete  the  history  of  Mr.  Fillmore's 
policy  respecting  Cuba  before  concluding  this  chapter. 

The  unfortunate  termination  of  the  Lopez  expedition  did  not 
quell  the  fillibustering  spirit  in  the  United  States,  nor  quiet  the 
suspicions  of  the* authorities  of  Cuba.  In  the  autumn  of  1852, 
the  steamer  Crescent  City,  which  plied  regularly  between 
New  York  and  New  Orleans,  touching  at  Havana,  and  carry 
ing  the  United  States  mail,  had  a  purser  by  the  name  of 
Smith,  who  was  suspected  of  being  an  agent  of  mischief  be 
tween  the  revolutionists  in  the  island  and  their  abettors  in  New 
York.  He  was  charged  by  the  Cuban  authorities  with  bear 
ing  messages  back  and  forth,  and  communicating  inflammatory 
articles  to  the  New  York  newspapers  for  the  purpose  of  fo 
menting  the  discontent  which  threatened  the  loss  of  the  island 
by  Spain.  This  individual  having  thus  become  obnoxious,  the 
Captain-general  of  Cuba  objected  to  his  landing.  This  he  had 
an  undoubted  right  to  do;  for  no  principle  is  better  established 
than  that  the  government  of  every  nation  has  a  right  to  exclude 
from  its  territories  all  persons  whom  it  may  consider  dangerous 
to  its  peace.  The  owner  of  the  Crescent  City,  however,  de 
clined  to  remove  purser  Smith  from  his  steamer — insisted 
that  it  should  land  at  Havana  with  him  on  board,  and  threat 
ened  to  seek  redress  by  force  if  the  vessel  should  not  be  per 
mitted  to  land.  This  would  amount  to  a  declaration  of  war  by 
a  private  individual.  Although  the  President  did  not  approve 
the  conduct  of  the  Captain-general  of  Cuba,  and  made  it  the 
subject  of  diplomatic  representations  to  the  Court  of  Spain,  he 
did  not  recognize  the  right  of  a  private  citizen  to  take  the 
redress  of  his  supposed  grievances  into  his  own  hands,  and  he 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  collector  of  New  York,  stating  that 


CAPTAIN-GENERAL   OF   CUBA.  191 

if  the  owner  of  the  Crescent  City  should  repeat  his  attempts 
to  enter  the  port  of  Havana,  and  by  violating  the  laws  of  a 
foreign  nation  within  its  own  jurisdiction,  should  forfeit  his 
vessel,  he  could  expect  no  indemnity  for  such  an  act  of  folly 
from  the  United  States  government.  As  we  regulate  the  con 
ditions  on  which  all  foreign  vessels  may  enter  our  ports,  and 
fix  the  penalties  for  the  violation  of  our  laws,  and  never  allow 
the  right  to  do  so  to  be  questioned  by  foreigners,  so  we  are 
not  permitted  to  question  their  right  to  make  and  enforce  their 
own  regulations.  The  President,  therefore,  decided  that  the 
owner  of  the  Crescent  City  must  wait  the  result  of  the  nego 
tiations  between  the  two  governments.  It  was  not  a  question 
to  be  settled  between  him  and  Cuba,  nor  even  between  the 
United  States  and  Cuba,  but  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain,  which  is  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  governor  of 
Cuba.  The  course  of  the  President  on  this  occasion  was 
warmly  approved  by  the  public  press. 

The  forays  against  Cuba  by  armed  fillibusters  from  this 
country,  attracted  the  attention  of  European  governments,  and 
the  supposed  danger  that  the  island  would  be  wrested  from 
Spain  and  fall  into  the  possession  of  the  United  States,  alarmed 
that  jealousy  of  our  growth  which  is  habitual  with  those  gov 
ernments.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1852,  a  proposal  was 
made  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  by  the  French  and  English 
ministers,  to  enter  into  a  tripartite  treaty  by  which  the  three 
powers  should  bind  themselves  for  all  coming  time  neither  to 
make  any  attempt  to  acquire  Cuba  for  themselves,  nor  to 
countenance  any  such  attempts  by  others.  Although  this  pro 
posal  evinced  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  foreign  governments 
to  impertinent  interference  in  our  affairs,  the  communication 
of  the  French  minister  was  treated  respectfully.  Mr.  Webster 
addressed  him  a  note  stating  that  the  President  would  take 
the  proposal  of  the  French  and  English  governments  into  con 
sideration  and  make  the  questions  it  involved  the  subject  of 


192  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARD    FILLMOKE. 

mature  reflection.  Although  the  President  had,  with  the  most 
unflinching  determination,  exerted  his  official  authority  for  re 
pressing  the  attempts  of  the  filibusters,  which  were  made  the 
occasion  of  this  proposal,  and  was  opposed,  for  reasons  of  do 
mestic  policy,  to  the  immediate  acquisition  of  Cuba,  even  if  it 
could  be  gained  by  purchase  and  without  an  interruption  of 
friendly  relations  with  Spain,  he  was  nevertheless  decidedly 
opposed  to  entering  into  any  such  arrangement  as  that  pro 
posed  by  France  and  England.  He  adhered  to  the  wise  policy 
of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  which  was  opposed  to  entangling 
alliances  with  foreign  powers.  He  was  not  willing  to  place  the 
government  of  this  country  in  such  a  condition  that  it  would 
be  responsible  to  others  for  the  proper  discharge  of  its  duty. 
So  far  as  related  to  the  acquisition  of  Cuba  by  other  powers, 
he  knew  that  this  country  had  both  the  will  and  the  ability  to 
prevent  it,  without  foreign  assistance.  As  to  its  acquisition  by 
ourselves,  although  we  did  not  want  it  at  present,  he  regarded 
it  as  a  geographical  and  political  necessity  that  it  would,  at 
some  future  time,  fall  into  our  hands;  and  he  would  not  allow 
a  treaty  with  foreign  nations  to  fetter  the  march  of  our  destiny. 

The  final  reply  of  our  government  to  this  proposal  for  a  tri 
partite  treaty  was  not  made  until  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Web 
ster.  In  the  fall  of  1852,  Mr.  Everett  had  accepted  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State,  and  on  the  first  of  December,  in  that 
year,  he  addressed  to  the  Count  de  Sartiges,  by  the  direction 
of  the  President,  a  letter  which  ranks  among  the  ablest  state 
papers  ever  issued  by  the  American  government. 

Mr.  Everett  stated  that  the  most  serious  attention  had  been 
given  to  this  proposal  by  the  President,  who  at  the  same  time 
that  he  did  not  covet  the  acquisition  of  Cuba  for  the  United 
States,  considered  the  condition  of  the  island  as  an  American 
and  not  a  European  question,  and  objected  to  the  proposed 
treaty  because  it  assumed  that  the  United  States  have  no 
other  or  greater  interest  in  it  than  France  and  England.  If 


NO   TRIPARTITE   TREATY.  193 

the  treaty  should  be  assented  to  by  the  President,  its  certain 
rejection  by  the  Senate  would  leave  the  question  of  Cuba  more 
unsettled  than  when  the  arrangement  was  proposed.  This, 
however,  would  not  require  the  President  to  withhold  his  con 
currence,  if  no  other  objections  existed.  But  the  convention 
would  be  of  no  value  unless  it  were  lasting;  and  the  President 
did  not  consider  it  within  the  competence  of  the  treaty-making 
power  to  bind  the  government  for  all  time  to  come  not  to  make 
a  purchase  of  Cuba.  He  was  likewise  unwilling  to  depart  from 
the  traditionary  policy  of  the  government  which  had  always 
been  averse  to  political  alliances  with  European  powers.  After 
stating  these  preliminary  objections,  Mr.  Everett,  in  his  admir 
able  letter,  goes  on  to  say : 

"  But  the  President  has  a  graver  objection  to  entering  into 
the  proposed  convention.  He  has  no  wish  to  disguise  the 
feeling  that  the  compact,  although  equal  in  its  terms,  would  be 
very  unequal  in  substance.  England  and  France  by  entering 
into  it  would  disable  themselves  from  obtaining  possession  of 
an  island  remote  from  their  seats  of  government,  belonging  to 
another  European  power,  whose  natural  right  to  possess  it 
must  always  be  as  good  as  their  own  —  a  distant  island  in  an 
other  hemisphere,  and  one  which  by  no  ordinary  or  peaceful 
course  of  things  could  ever  belong  to  either  of  them.  If  the 
present  balance  of  power  in  Europe  should  be  broken  up  —  if 
Spain  should  become  unable  to  maintain  the  island  in  her  pos 
session,  and  England  and  France  should  be  engaged  in  a  death 
struggle  with  each  other,  Cuba  might  then  be  the  prize  of  the 
victor.  Till  these  events  all  take  place,  the  President  does  not 
see  how  Cuba  can  belong  to  any  European  power  but  Spain. 
The  United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  would  by  the  proposed 
convention  disable  themselves  from  making  an  acquisition 
which  might  take  place  without  any  disturbance  of  existing 
foreign  relations,  and  in  the  natural  order  of  things. 

"The  island  of  Cuba  lies  at  our  doors;  it  commands  the 

approach    to  the    Gulf  of  Mexico,  which  washes  the  shores 

of  five  of  our  States;  it  bars  the  entrance  to  that  great  river 

which  drains  half  the  North  American  continent,  and,  with  its 

9 


194:       BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLAED  FILLMOKE. 

tributaries,  forms  the  largest  system  of  internal  water  com 
munication  in  the  world;  it  keeps  watch  at  the  doorway  of  our 
intercourse  with  California  by  the  Isthmus  route.  If  an  island 
like  Cuba,  belonging  to  the  Spanish  crown,  guarded  the  en 
trance  to  the  Thames  or  the  Seine,  and  the  United  States 
should  propose  a  convention  like  this  to  England  and  France, 
those  powers  would  assuredly  feel  that  the  disability  assumed 
by  ourselves  was  far  less  serious  than  that  which  we  asked 
them  to  assume. 

"The  opinion  of  American  statesmen  at  different  times,  and 
under  varying  circumstances,  have  differed  as  to  the  desirable 
ness  of  the  acquisition  of  Cuba  by  the  United  States.  Terri 
torially  and  commercially,  it  would  in  our  hands  be  an 
extremely  valuable  possession.  Under  certain  contingencies, 
it  might  be  almost  essential  to  our  safety;  still,  for  domestic 
reasons  on  which,  in  a  communication  of  this  kind,  it  might  not 
be  proper  to  dwell,  the  President  thinks  that  the  incorporation 
of  the  island  into  the  Union  at  the  present  time,  although  ef 
fected  with  the  consent  of  Spain,  would  be  a  hazardous  meas 
ure,  and  he  would  consider  its  acquisition  by  force,  except  in 
a  just  war  with  Spain,  should  an  event  so  greatly  to  be  depre 
cated  take  place,  as  a  disgrace  to  the  civilization  of  the  age. 
The  President  has  given  ample  proof  of  the  sincerity  with 
which  he  holds  these  views.  He  has  thrown  the  whole  force 
of  his  constitutional  power  against  all  illegal  attacks  upon  the 
island.  It  would  have  been  perfectly  easy  for  him,  without 
any  seeming  neglect  of  duty,  to  allow  projects  of  a  formidable 
character  to  gather  strength  by  connivance.  No  amount  of 
obloquy  at  home,  no  embarrassments  caused  by  the  indiscre 
tions  of  the  colonial  government  of  Cuba,  have  moved  him  from 
the  path  of  duty.  In  this  respect  the  Captain-general  of  that 
island,  an  officer  apparently  of  upright  and  conciliatory  charac 
ter,  but  probably  more  used  to  military  command  than  the 
management  of  civil  affairs,  has,  on  a  punctilio,  in  reference  to 
the  purser  of  a  private  steamship,  who  seems  to  have  been  en 
tirely  innocent  of  the  matters  laid  to  his  charge,  refused  to 
allow  passengers  and  the  mails  of  the  United  States  to  be 
landed  from  a  vessel  having  him  on  board.  This  certainly  is 
a  very  extraordinary  mode  of  animadverting  upon  a  supposed 
abuse  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  by  the  subject  of  a  foreign 
government  in  his  native  country.  The  Captain-general  is  not 


195 

permitted  by  his  government,  three  thousand  miles  off,  to  hold 
any  diplomatic  intercourse  with  the  United  States.  He  is 
subject  in  no  degree  to  the  direction  of  the  Spanish  Minister  at 
Washington ;  and  the  President  has  to  choose  between  a  resort 
to  foice  to  compel  the  abandonment  of  this  gratuitous  interrup 
tion  of  commercial  intercourse,  which  would  result  in  a  war  — 
and  a  delay  of  weeks  and  months,  necessary  for  a  negotiation 
with  Madrid,  with  all  the  chances  of  the  most  deplorable  oc 
currences  in  the  interval,  and  all  for  a  trifle,  that  ought  to  have 
admitted  of  a  settlement  by  an  exchange  of  notes  between 
Washington  and  Havana.  The  President  has,  however,  pa 
tiently  submitted  to  these  evils,  and  has  continued  faithfully  to 
give  to  Cuba  the  advantage  of  those  principles  of  the  public 
law  under  the  shadow  of  which  she  has  departed  in  this  case 
from  the  comity  of  nations.  But  the  incidents  to  which  I  al 
lude,  and  which  are  still  in  train,  are  among  many  others  which 
point  decisively  to  the  expediency  of  some  change  in  the  rela 
tions  of  Cuba,  and  the  President  thinks  that  the  influence  of 
England  and  France  with  Spain,  would  be  well  employed  in 
inducing  her  so  to  modify  the  administration  of  the  government 
of  Cuba  as  to  afford  the  means  of  some  prompt  remedy  for 
evils  of  the  kind  alluded  to,  which  have  done  much  to  increase 
the  spirit  of  unlawful  enterprise  against  the  island.  That  a, 
convention,  such  as  is  proposed,  would  be  a  transitory  arrange 
ment,  sure  to  be  swept  away  by  the  irresistible  tide  of  affairs 
in  a  new  country,  is  to  the  apprehension  of  the  President  too 
obvious  to  require  a  labored  argument.  The  project  rests  on 
principles,  applicable,  if  at  all,  to  Europe,  where  international 
relations  are  in  their  basis  of  great  antiquity,  slowly  modified 
for  the  most  part  in  the  progress  of  time  and  events,  and  not 
applicable  to  America,  which,  but  lately  a  waste,  is  filling  up 
with  intense  rapidity  and  adjusting  on  natural  principles  those 
territorial  relations  which  on  the  first  discovery  of  the  continent 
were  in  a  good  degree  fortuitous.  The  comparative  history  of 
Europe  and  America,  even  for  a  single  century,  shows  this. 

"In  1752,  England,  France,  and  Spain,  were  not  materially 
different  in  their  political  position  in  Europe  from  what  they 
now  are.  They  were  ancient,  mature,  consolidated  States,  es 
tablished  in  their  relations  with  each  other  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  —  the  leading  powers  of  Western  and  Southern  Europe. 
Totally  different  was  the  state  of  things  in  America.  The 


196  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

United  States  had  no  existence  as  a  people  —  a  line  of  English 
colonies  not  numbering  much  over  a  million  of  inhabitants, 
stretched  along  the  coast.  France  extended  from  the  Bay  of 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  from  the  Alleghanies 
to  the  Mississippi,  beyond  which  westward  the  continent  was 
a  wilderness,  occupied  by  wandering  savages,  and  subject  to  a 
conflicting  and  nominal  claim  on  the  part  of  France  and  Spain. 
Everything  in  Europe  was  comparatively  fixed  —  everything 
in  America  provisional,  incipient,  and  temporary,  except  the 
law  of  progress,  which  is  as  organic  and  vital  in  the  youth  of 
States,  as  of  individual  men.  A  struggle  between  the  provin 
cial  authorities  of  England  and  France,  for  the  possession  of  a 
petty  stockade  at  the  confluence  of  the  Monongahela  and  the 
Alleghany,  kindled  the  seven  years1  war,  at  the  close  of  which, 
the  great  European  powers,  not  materially  affected  in  their 
relations  at  home,  had  undergone  astonishing  changes  on  this 
continent.  France  had  disappeared  from  the  map  of  America, 
whose  inmost  recesses  had  been  penetrated  by  her  ze;ilous 
missionaries,  and  her  resolute  and  gallant  adventurers.  Eng 
land  had  added  the  Canadas  to  her  transatlantic  dominions. 
Spain  had  become  the  mistress  of  Louisiana,  so  that,  in  the 
language  of  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico,  in  1770,  she  claimed 
Siberia  as  the  northern  boundary  of  New  Spain. 

"Twelve  years  only,  from  the  treaty  of  Paris,  elapsed,  and 
another  great  change  took  place,  fruitful  of  still  greater  changes 
to  come.  The  American  revolution  broke  out.  It  involved 
England,  France,  and  Spain,  in  a  tremendous  struggle,  and  at 
its  close  the  United  States  of  America  had  taken  their  place 
in  the  family  of  nations.  In  Europe,  the  ancient  States  were 
restored  substantially  to  their  former  equilibrium,  but  a  new 
element,  of  incalculable  importance  in  reference  to  territorial 
arrangements,  is  henceforth  to  be  recognized  in  America. 
Just  twenty  years  from  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  American 
revolution,  France,  by  a  treaty  with  Spain,  of  which  the  pro 
visions  have  never  been  disclosed,  possessed  herself  of  Louisia 
na,  but  did  so  only  to  cede  it  to  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
same  year  Lewis  and  Clark  started  on  their  expedition  to  plant 
the  flag  of  the  United  States  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  In 
18L  9  Florida  was  sold  by  Spain  to  the  United  States,  whose 
territorial  possessions,  in  this  way,  had  been  increased  three 
fold  in  half  a  century.  This  last  acquisition  was  so  much  a 


MR.    EVEKETTS   LETTER.  197 

matter  of  course  that  it  had  been  distinctly  foreseen  by  the 
Count  Aranda,  then  Prime  Minister  of  Spain,  as  long  ago  as 
1783.  But  even  these  momentous  events  are  but  the. fore 
runners  of  new  territorial  revolutions  still  more  stupendous. 

"A  dynastic  struggle,  between  the  Emperor  Napoleon  and 
Spain,  commencing  in  1808,  convulsed  the  peninsula,  the  vast 
possessions  of  the  Spanish  crown  on  this  continent,  vice-royal 
ties  and  captain-generalships  filling  the  space  between  California 
and  Cape  Horn.  One  after  another  asserted  their  independ 
ence;  no  friendly  power  in  Europe,  at  that  time,  was  able,  or 
if  able,  was  willing,  to  succor  Spain  or  aid  her  to  prop  the 
crumbling  buttresses  of  her  colonial  empire.  So  far  from  it, 
when  France,  in  1823,  threw  an  army  of  one  hundred  thou 
sand  men  into  Spain,  to  control  her  domestic  politics,  England 
thought  it  necessary  to  counteract  the  movement  by  recogniz 
ing  the  independence  of  the  Spanish  provinces  in  America;  in 
the  remarkable  language  of  the  distinguished  minister  of  the 
day,  in  order  to  redress  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  he 
called  into  existence  a  new  world  in  the"  west,  somewhat  over 
rating  perhaps  the  extent  of  the  derangement  in  the  old  world, 
and  not  doing  full  justice  to  the  position  of  the  United  States 
in  America,  or  their  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  their  sister 
republics  on  this  continent. 

"Thus,  in  sixty  years  from  the  close  of  the  seven  years'  war, 
Spain,  like  France,  had  lost  the  last  remains  of  her  once  im 
perial  possessions  in  this  hemisphere.  The  United  States, 
meantime,  were,  by  the  arts  of  peace  and  the  healthful  pro 
gress  of  things,  rapidly  enlarging  their  dimensions  and  consol 
idating  their  power.  The  great  march  of  events  still  went  on. 
Some  of  the  new  republics,  from  the  effect  of  a  mixture  of  races, 
or  the  want  of  training  in  liberal  institutions,  showed  themselves 
incapable  of  self-government.  The  province  of  Texas  revolted 
from  Mexico  by  the  same  right  by  which  Mexico  revolted  from 
Spain;  at  the  memorable  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  in  1836,  she 
passed  the  great  ordeal  of  nascent  States,  and  her  independ 
ence  was  recognized  by  this  government,  by  England,  by 
France,  and  other  European  powers.  Mainly  peopled  from 
the  United  States,  she  sought  naturally  to  be  incorporated 
into  the  Union.  The  offer  was  repeatedly  rejected  by  Presi 
dents  Jackson  and  Van  Buren,  to  avoid  a  collision  with  Mexico. 
At  last  the  annexation  took  place.  As  a  domestic  question,  it 


198  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAED   FILLMOKE. 

is  no  fit  subject  for  comment  in  a  communication  to  a  foreign 
minister;  as  a  question  of  public  law,  there  never  was  an  ex 
tension  of  territory  more  naturally  or  justifiably  made;  it  pro 
duced  a  disturbed  relation  with  the  government  of  Mexico; 
war  ens'  ed,  and  in  its  results  other  extensive  territories  were, 
for  a  large  pecuniary  compensation  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  added  to  the  Union. 

"Without  adverting  to  the  divisions  of  opinion  which  arose 
in  reference  to  this  war  —  as  must  always  happen  in  free  coun 
tries  in  reference  to  great  measures  —  no  person  surveying 
these  events  with  the  eye  of  comprehensive  statesmanship,  can 
fail  to  trace  in  the  main  result  the  undoubted  operation  of  the 
law  of  our  political  existence.  The  consequences  are  before 
the  world;  vast  provinces,  which  had  languished  for  three  cen 
turies  under  the  leaden  sway  of  a  stationary  system,  are  coming 
under  the  influences  of  an  active  civilization,  freedom  of  speech 
and  the  press  —  the  trial  by  jury,  religious  equality,  and  rep 
resentative  government,  have  been  carried  by  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States  into  extensive  regions  in  which  they  were 
unknown  before.  By  the  settlement  of  California  the  great 
circuit  of  intelligence  round  the  globe  is  completed.  The  dis 
covery  of  the  gold  of  that  region,  leading  as  it  did  to  the  same 
discovery  in  Australia,  has  touched  the  nerves  of  industry 
throughout  the  world." 

This  fine  picture  of  the  territorial  development  of  the  United 
States,  must  gratify  the  pride  of  every  patriotic  heart.  When 
Mr.  Everett's  letter  was  published  in  the  newspapers,  it  was 
greeted  with  a  universal  expression  of  satisfaction.  The  whole 
country  approved  of  the  course  of  the  President  in  repelling 
the  impertinent  attempts  of  foreign  governments  to  impose 
diplomatic  fetters  on  our  future  growth.  The  careful  reader 
of  the  foregoing  extract  will  have  discovered  in  it  a  full  recog 
nition  of  one  of  the  leading  principles  of  the  American  party. 
In  speaking  of  the  melancholy  fate  of  the  republics  of  South 
America,  Mr.  Everett  attributes  the  incapacity  which  their 
people  had  shown  for  self-government  to  "  the  effect  of  a  mix 
ture  of  races  or  the  want  of  training  in  liberal  institutions." 


AMERICAN   PRINCIPLES.  199 

Knowing  that  like  causes  produce  like  effects,  the  American 
party  are  disposed  to  take  warning  from  the  anarchy  and  mis 
rule  which  have  prevailed  in  our  sister  republics  of  South 
America. 

The  President,  likewise,  in  his  next  annual  message,  which 
was  presented  to  Congress  a  few  days  afterward,  recognizes 
the  principles  of  the  American  party,  in  stating  the  reasons 
why  he  did  not  consider  the  immediate  acquisition  of  Cuba 
desirable.  He  said:  "Were  this  island  comparatively  destitute 
of  inhabitants,  or  occupied  by  a  kindred  race,  I  should  regard 
it,  if  voluntarily  ceded  by  Spain,  as  a  most  desirable  acquisition. 
But  under  existing  circumstances  I  should  look  upon  its  incor 
poration  into  our  Union  as  a  most  hazardous  measure.  It 
would  bring  into  the  confederacy  a  population  of  a  different 
national  stock,  speaking  a  different  language,  and  not  likely  to 
harmonize  with  the  other  members.  It  would  probably  affect 
in  a  prejudicial  manner  the  industrial  interests  of  the  South, 
and  it  might  revive  those  conflicts  of  opinion  between  the  dif 
ferent  sections  of  the  country,  winch  lately  shook  the  Union  to 
its  center,  and  which  have  been  so  happily  compromised." 
This  extract  shows  how  deeply  Mr.  Fillmore  was  even  then 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  safety  of  our  institutions 
depends  on  our  being  a  homogeneous  people. 


200  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLAKD   FILLMOKE. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

EXPLORING  EXPEDITIONS  TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES. 

The  disbanding  of  the  Mexican  army  had  thrown  upon  the 
community  a  large  number  of  idle  but  enterprising  vagabonds, 
who  were  ready  to  engage  in  any  plausible  expedition  that 
promised  excitement,  notoriety,  and  plunder.  The  discovery 
of  the  gold  mines  of  California  had  unsettled  the  public  mind, 
and  instead  of  seeking  a  gradual  accumulation  of  wealth  by 
the  regular  course  of  patient  industry,  the  restless  spirit  of 
the  country  was  growing  wild  in  the  pursuit  of  foreign 
enterprises. 

While,  therefore,  strong  measures  were  necessary  to  pre 
vent  marauding  expeditions  against  our  peaceful  neighbors,  it 
seemed  desirable  to  turn  this  spirit  of  enterprise  to  some  good 
account,  by  fitting  out  exploring  expeditions  to  .foreign  coun 
tries,  which  should  add  to  our  geographical  knowledge,  extend 
our  commerce,  offer  a  field  of  enterprise  to  some  of  the  most 
worthy  of  those  who  sought  it,  and  present  subjects  of  legiti 
mate  interest  to  occupy  the  public  mind.  With  this  view 
great  efforts  were  made  by  the  President  to  secure  to  our 
citizens  the  Tehuantepec  route  to  the  Pacific  through  Mexico, 
and  the  Nicarauo-ua  route  through  Central  America. 

o  o 

Japan  also  attracted  attention.  Some  of  our  sailors,  who 
had  been  shipwrecked  and  cast  upon  her  shores,  were  inhos 
pitably  treated;  and  the  President  determined  to  attempt  a 
negotiation  with  that  country  for  their  protection,  and  for  such 


EXPEDITION   TO   JAPAN.  201 

commercial  privileges  as  could  be  obtained.  With  a  view  to 
open  commercial  intercourse  with  this  empire,  which  had  for 
several  centuries  been  a  sealed  book  to  the  various  nations  of 
the  civilized  world,  the  President  ordered  Commodore  Aulick 
to  the  command  of  the  East  India  squadron,  and  empowered 
him  to  open  negotiations  with  Japan.  We  copy  the  following 
paragraphs  from  the  letter  of  instructions  to  Commodore 
Aulick,  which  was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Webster: 

"  The  moment  is  near  when  the  last  link  in  the  chain  of 
oceanic  steam  navigation  is  to  be  formed.  From  China  and 
the  East  Indies  to  Egypt;  thence  through  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  England  ;  thence  again  to  our 
happy  shores,  and  other  parts  of  this  great  continent;  from 
our  own  ports  to  the  southernmost  part  of  the  isthmus  that 
connects  the  two  western  continents  ;  and  from  its  Pacific 
coast,  north  and  southward,  as  far  as  civilization  has  spread, 
the  steamers  of  other  nations,  and  of  our  own,  carry  intelli 
gence,  the  wealth  of  the  world,  and  thousands  of  travelers. 

"  It  is  the  President's  opinion,  that  steps  should  be  taken  at 
once  to  enable  our  enterprising  merchants  to  supply  the  last 
link  in  that  great  chain  which  unites  all  nations  of  the  world, 
by  the  early  establishment  of  a  line  of  steamers  from  California 
to  China.  In  order  to  facilitate  this  enterprise,  it  is  desirable 
that  we  should  obtain,  from  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  permission 
to  purchase  from  his  subjects  the  necessary  supplies  of  coal, 
which  our  steamers,  in  their  out  and  inward  voyages,  may 
require.  The  well  known  jealousy  with  which  the  Japanese 
Empire  has,  for  the  last  two  centuries,  rejected  all  overtures 
from  other  nations  to  open  its  ports  to  their  vessels,  embar 
rasses  all  new  attempts  to  change  the  exclusive  policy  of  that 
country. 

********** 

"  The  President,  although  fully  aware  of  the  great  reluc 
tance  hitherto  shown  by  the  Japanese  government  to  enter 
into  treaty  stipulations  with  any  foreign  nation  —  a  feeling 
which  it  is  sincerely  wished  that  you  may  be  able  to  over 
come —  has  thought  it  proper,  in  view  of  this  latter  favorable 
contingency,  to  invest  vou  with  full  power  to  negotiate  and 
9* 


202  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

sign  a  treaty  of  amity  and    commerce    between  the  United 
States  and  the  Empire  of  Japan." 

Commodore  Aulick  became  involved  in  difficulty  in  conse 
quence  of  alleged  misconduct  to  the  Brazilian  minister,  who 
was  a  passenger  on  board  his  vessel  to  Rio  Janeiro.  This 
difficulty  resulted  in  his  recall  ;  and  it  was  afterward  con 
cluded  to  give  a  more  imposing  aspect  to  the  mission  by  send 
ing  out  an  independent  fleet,  under  the  command  of  Commo 
dore  Perry,  who  was  clothed  with  full  powers  of  negotiation. 
The  difficulty  of  obtaining  sailors,  and  delay  in  finishing  some 
vessels  intended  for  the  squadron,  detained  it  in  port  till  the 
fall  of  1852,  when  it  sailed  from  Norfolk  with  fewer  vessels 
than  had  been  intended.  The  success  of  the  expedition,  how 
ever,  was  complete,  and  its  history  is  to  be  found  in  the  State 
and  Navy  Departments  at  Washington. 

As  soon  as  Rosas  was  driven  from  Buenos  Ayres,  and  a 
prospect  began  to  dawn  of  opening  to  the  commerce  of  other 
nations  the  immense  country  bordering  on  the  La  Plata  and 
its  confluents,  our  ministers  at  Rio  and  Buenos  Ayres  were 
directed  to  go  to  the  seat  of  power  wherever  it  should  be 
found,  whether  in  a  confederation  or  in  separate  states,  and 
negotiate  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce.  Treaties  had 
already  been  made  during  this  administration,  with  Peru,  Costa 
Rica,  Uraguay,  and  Brazil;  and  the  ministers  just  alluded  to 
secured  others.  In  furtherance  of  the  same  object  the  Presi 
dent  sent  one  of  our  naval  officers,  with  a  small  steamer,  to 
survey  the  La  Plata  and  its  branches. 

Inferring  from  the  gold  washings  of  the  rivers  of  Africa, 
that  when  the  interior  mountains  in  which  they  take  their  rise 
are  discovered  and  examined,  they  may  prove  to  be  another 
California  ;  and  believing  that,  if  the  conjecture  were  con 
firmed,  the  existence  of  gold  mines  would  act  as  a  power 
ful  motive  in  inducing  the  free  blacks  of  this  country  to 


SOUTH    AMERICAN   EXPLORING    EXPEDITIONS.        203 

emigrate  to  that  part  of  the  world,  Lieutenant  Lynch  was  sent 
thither  on  an  exploring-  expedition,  the  result  of  which  has 
not  yet  been  published.  Like  the  reports  of  the  Japan  expe 
dition,  it  sleeps  in  the  archives  of  the  Navy  Department  at 
Washington. 

By  the  act  of  August  31st,  1852,  Congress  provided  for 
an  exploring  expedition  to  the  Chinese  seas,  which  was  dis 
patched  by  the  President  under  Captain  Ring-gold,  who  was 
sent  home  insane  before  the  completion  of  the  survey. 

An  expedition  was  also  sent  to  explore  the  valley  of  the 
Amazon,  which  accomplished  its  object.  The  reports  of  the 
officers  in  command,  which  are  printed  among  the  Senate 
documents,  are  well  worthy  a  perusal. 

Efforts  were  also  made  to  open  the  guano  trade,  which  is  a 
monopoly ;  and  an  unfortunate  letter  was  written  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  to  Mr.  Jewett;  and,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  President,  an  order  was  sent  to  Commodore  McAuley  to 
protect  our  vessels  in  taking  guano  from  the  Lobos  Islands. 
As  soon  as  the  President  discovered  it,  the  order  was  counter 
manded,  and  an  arrangement  was  made  with  the  Peruvian 
government  to  freight  the  vessels  which  had  been  sent  out  at 
a  stipulated  price. 

The  various  expeditions  to  which  allusion  has  been  made  in 
this  chapter  show  that  the  administration  of  President  Fill- 
more  was  characterized  not  less  by  enterprise  than  by  wise 
and  salutary  caution,  and  that  he  fully  sympathized  with  the 
progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  whenever  its  indulgence  was  con 
sistent  with  our  obligations  to  others.  This  happy  union  of 
enterprise  without  rashness,  with  caution  without  timidity,  is 
as  rare  as  it  is  fortunate,  and  entitles  Mr.  Fillmore  to  the  very 
first  rank  as  a  practical  statesman.  Firm  when  a  right  is  in 
volved;  bold  when  occasion  demands;  far-sighted  respecting 
the  consequences  of  measures;  quick  to  perceive  where  an 
advantage  is  to  be  gained  for  his  country;  cool,  sagacious, 


204:  BIOGKAPIIY   OF   MILLA.RD   FILLMOKE. 

deliberate,  and  inflexibly  just,  he  combines  more  of  the  requisites 
for  a  great  and  able  chief  magistrate  than  any  other  man  in 
the  country.  Others  may  possess  single  qualifications  in 
greater  perfection,  and  therefore  be  regarded  as  more  brilliant ; 
but  no  one  combines  so  many  of  the  requisites  for  eminent 
usefulness  in  the  discharge  of  high  and  responsible  trusts. 


AMERICAN    PKINCIPLES.  205 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

AMERICAN     PRINCIPLES. 

The  limits  to  which  we  are  restricted  do  not  permit  a  detailed 
account  of  all  the  measures  of  President  Fillmore's  adminis 
tration.  A  number  of  domestic  reforms,  of  which  the  reduc 
tion  of  letter  postage  to  the  uniform  rate  of  three  cents,  may 
be  considered  a  specimen,  are  necessarily  passed  over  without 
mention,  in  order  that  we  may  present  with  more  fullness  some 
of  those  prominent  features  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  policy  which 
afford  critcrions  of  his  wisdom  and  ability  as  a  statesman. 

After  the  passage  of  the  compromise  measures,  no  event 
occurred  during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Fill  more,  which  pro 
duced  so  profound  a  sensation,  and  awakened  so  much  popular 
excitement,  as  the  visit  to  this  country  of  Louis  Kossuth,  the 
ex-governor  of  Hungary.  The  participation  of  the  adminis 
tration  in  measures  for  the  release  of  the  Hungarian  exiles 
from  their  imprisonment  in  Turkey,  and  its  refusal  to  partici 
pate  in  measures  for  rescuing  fallen  Hungary  from  the  do 
minion  of  Austria,  furnish  illustrations  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  tone 
of  thinking  on  questions  pertaining  to  immigration  and  foreign 
influence,  and  will  enable  the  reader-  to  understand  why  he  so 
promptly  perceived  the  importance  of  the  American  move 
ment,  and  so  readily  united  with  the  American  party.  Mr. 
Fillmore's  accession  to  this  party  was  a  necessary  consequence 
of  principles  he  had  entertained  and  acted  upon  before  the 
party  had  risen  into  notice. 


206  BIOGRAPHY    OF    MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

The  American  party  is  not  founded,  as  its  enemies  repre 
sent,  on  hostility  to  the  residence  of  foreigners  in  this  country, 
but  to  their  participation  in  our  politics  before  they  have  be 
come  imbued  with  American  sentiments.  The  American  party 
cherishes  a  lively  sympathy  with  all  efforts  in  favor  of  free 
institutions  in  other  countries,  and  cordially  welcomes  to  our 
shores  the  oppressed  inhabitants  of  the  old  world,  who  have 
either  failed  in  such  efforts,  or,  from  any  other  cause,  seek 
protection  and  repose  for  themselves,  and  a  home  for  their 
posterity,  in  this  free  and  happy  republic.  Our  right  to  watch 
the  progress  of  liberty  in  other  lands,  to  sympathize  with  its 
struggles,  and  to  recognize  its  achievements,  was  nobly  and 
eloquently  vindicated  by  President  Fillmore's  administration, 
in  Mr.  Webster's  celebrated  letter  to  the  Chevalier  Hulse- 
mann,  which  was  written  by  the  direction  of  the  President. 
The  following  extracts  will  show  that  the  policy  of  strict  neu 
trality  and  non-intervention,  which  was  so  firmly  enforced 
during  Mr.  Fillmore's  administration,  was  not  the  fruit  of  cold 
indifference  to  the  fortunes  of  freedom  on  the  eastern  continent. 

"  The  undersigned  will  first  observe,"  says  Mr.  Webster, 
"  that  the  President  is  persuaded,  his  majesty  the  emperor  of 
Austria  does  not  think  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  ought  to  view,  with  unconcern,  the  extraordinary  events 
which  have  occurred,  not  only  in  his  dominions,  but  in  many 
other  parts  of  Europe,  since  February,  1848.  The  govern 
ment  and  people  of  the  United  States,  like  other  intelligent 
governments  and  communities,  take  a  lively  interest  in  the 
movements  and  events  of  this  remarkable  age,  in  whatever 
part  of  the  world  they  may  be  exhibited.  But  the  interest 
taken  by  the  United  States  in  those  events,  has  not  pro 
ceeded  from  any  disposition  to  depart  from  that  neutrality 
toward  foreign  powers,  which  is  among  the  deepest  principles 
and  the  most  cherished  traditions  of  the  political  history  of 
the  Union.  Tt  has  been  the  necessary  effect  of  the  unex 
ampled  character  of  the  events  themselves,  which  could  not 
fail  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  cotemporary  world;  as  they 


SYMPATHY    WITH    STRUGGLING    FREEDOM.  207 

"will  doubtless  fill  a  memorable  page  in  history.  But  the 
undersigned  goes  further,  and  freely  admits  that  in  proportion 
as  these  extraordinary  evrents  appeared  to  have  their  origin  in 
those  great  ideas  of  responsible  and  popular  governments,  on 
which  the  American  constitutions  themselves  are  wholly 
founded,  they  could  not  but  command  the  warm  sympathy  of 
the  people  of  this  country. 

"The  power  of  this  republic,  at  the  present  moment,  is 
spread  over  a  region,  one  of  the  richest  and  most  fertile  on  the 
globe,  and  of  an  extent  in  comparison  with  which  the  posses 
sions  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  are  but  as  a  patch  on  the 
earth's  surface.  Its  population,  already  twenty-five  millions, 
will  exceed  that  of  the  Austrian  empire  within  the  period 
during  which  it  may  be  hoped  that  Mr.  Hulsemann  may  yet 
remain  in  the  honorable  discharge  of  his  duties  to  his  govern 
ment.  Its  navigation  and  commerce  are  hardly  exceeded  by 
the  oldest  and  most  commercial  nations ;  its  maritime  means 
and  its  maritime  power  may  be  seen  by  Austria  herself,  in  all 
seas  where  she  has  ports,  as  well  as  it  may  be  seen,  also,  in 
all  other  quarters  of  the  globe.  Life,  liberty,  property,  and 
all  personal  rights,  are  amply  secured  to  all  citizens,  and  pro 
tected  by  just  and  stable  laws;  and  credit,  public  and  |  rivate, 
is  as  well  established  as  in  any  government  of  Continental 
Europe.  And  the  country,  in  all  its  interests  and  concerns, 
partakes  most  largely  in  all  the  improvements  and  progress 
which  distinguish  the  age.  Certainly  the  United  States  may 
be  pardoned,  even  by  those  who  profess  adherence  to  the 
principles  of  absolute  governments,  if  they  entertain  an  ardent 
affection  for  those  popular  forms  of  political  organization  which 
have  so  rapidly  advanced  their  own  prosperity  and  happiness; 
which  enabled  them,  in  so  short  a  period,  to  bring  their  coun 
try,  and  the  hemisphere  to  which  it  belongs,  to  the  notice  and 
respectful  regard,  not  to  say  the  admiration,  of  the  civilized 
world.  Nevertheless,  the  United  States  have  abstained,  at  all 
times,  from  acts  of  interference  with  the  political  changes  of 
Europe.  They  can  not,  however,  fail  to  cherish  always  a 
lively  interest  in  the  fortunes  of  nations  struggling  for  institu 
tions  like  their  own.  But  this  sympathy,  so  far  from  being 
necessarily  a  hostile  feeling  toward  any  of  the  parties  to  these 
great  national  struggles,  is  quite  consistent  with  amicable  rela 
tions  with  them  all.  The  Hungarian  people  are  three  or  four 


208  BIOGRAPHY    OF   MILLARb    FILLMOKE. 

times  as  numerous  as  the  inhabitants  of  these  United  States 
were  when  the  American  revolution  broke  out.  They  possess, 
in  a  distinct  language,  and  in  other  respects,  important  ele 
ments  of  a  separate  nationality,  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
in  this  country  did  not  possess;  and  if  the  United  States  wish 
success  to  countries  contending  for  popular  constitutions  and 
national  independence,  it  is  only  because  they  regard  such 
constitutions  and  such  national  independence,  not  as  imaginary, 
but  as  real  blessings.  They  claim  no  right,  however,  to  take 
part  in  the  struggles  of  foreign  powers  in  order  to  promote 
these  ends.  It  is  only  in  defense  of  his  own  government,  and 
its  principles  and  character,  that  the  undersigned  has  now  ex 
pressed  himself  on  this  subject.  But  when  the  United  States 
behold  the  people  of  foreign  countries,  without  any  such  inter 
ference,  spontaneously  moving  toward  the  adoption  of  institu 
tions  like  their  own,  it  surely  can  not  be  expected  of  them  to 
remain  wholly  indifferent  spectators." 

A  proof  of  the  sincerity  with  which  these  sentiments  were 
entertained  is  furnished  by  the  subsequent  action  of  Mr.  Fill- 
more's  administration  in  relation  to  Kossuth.  When  he  was 
an  exile  and  a  prisoner  in  the  Turkish  dominions,  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  was  directed  to  write  a  letter  to  Mr.  Marsh,  the 
American  minister  at  Constantinople,  instructing  him  to  apply 
to  the  Sublime  Porte  for  the  release  of  the  Hungarian  refugees, 
and  to  offer  them  a  passage  to  this  country  in  national  vessels. 
The  most  prominent  of  the  reasons  for  their  release,  which 
were  urged  in  that  letter,  was  the  great  improbability  of  their 
renewing  any  attempts  tending  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of 
the  old  world.  They  were  invited  and  welcomed  here  as  men 
who  sought  an  asylum  from  oppression,  and  without  the  most 
distant  expectation  that  Kossuth  and  his  companions  would 
traverse  the  country  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  subverting 
the  settled  policy  of  the  American  government. 

"But  at  this  time,"  says  the  letter  of  instructions,  "all 
possible  apprehension  of  danger  and  disturbance,  to  result  from 
their  liberation,  has  ceased. 


LOUIS    KOSSUTH.  209 

"  It  is  now  more  than  a  year  since  the  last  Hungarian  army 
surrendered,  and  the  attempts  at  revolution  and  the  establish 
ment  of  an  independent  government,  in  which  they  were  en 
gaged,  were  most  sternly  crushed  by  the  united  forces  of  two 
of  the  greatest  powers  of  Europe. 

"Their  chief  associates  are,  like  themselves,  in  exile,  or  they 
have  perished  on  the  field,  or  on  the  scaffold,  or  by  military 
execution;  their  estates  are  confiscated,  their  families  dispersed, 
and  every  castle,  fortress,  and  city  of  Hungary  is  in  the  pos 
session  of  the  forces  of  Austria. 

"They  themselves,  by  their  desire  to  remove  so  far  from 
the  scene  of  their  late  conflict,  declare  that  they  entertain  no 
hope  or  thought  of  other  similar  attempts,  and  wish  only  to 
be  permitted  to  withdraw  themselves  altogether  from  all 
European  associations,  and  seek  new  homes  in  the  vast  regions 
of  the  United  States. 

"  For  their  attempts  at  independence  they  have  most  dearly 
paid;  and  now,  broken  in  fortune  and  in  heart,  without  home 
or  country — a  band  of  exiles  whose  only  future  is  a  fearful 
remembrance  of  the  past;  whose  only  request  is  to  spend 
their  remaining  days  in  obscure  industry  —  they  want  the  per 
mission  of  his  imperial  majesty  to  remove  themselves,  and  all 
that  may  remain  to  them,  across  the  ocean  to  the  uncultivated 
regions  of  America,  and  leave  forever  a  continent  which  has 
become  more  gloomy  than  the  wilderness,  more  lone  and 
dreary  than  the  desert." 

No  foreigner  ever  approached  our  hospitable  shores  who 
excited  so  much  interest  and  sympathy  as  was  felt  for  Kos- 
suth.  Little  was  it  dreamed  that  in  the  very  act  of  accepting 
our  hospitality  he  would  turn  our  accuser.  Little  was  it 
thought  that  he  would  immediately  arraign  our  government 
as  recreant  to  the  cause  of  universal  liberty,  because  it  adhered 
to  the  wise  policy  of  Washington,  and  declined  to  take  part  in 
the  struggles  of  foreign  nations.  Little  was  it  supposed  that 
this  illustrious  Hungarian  exile  would  appeal  from  the  Ameri 
can  government  to  the  American  people,  and  attempt  to  com 
pel  acquiescence  in  his  schemes  by  influencing  the  presidential 
election.  But,  little  as  it  was  expected,  all  this  turned  out  to 


210       BIOGRAPHY  OF  MILLARD  FILLMORE. 

be  true.  No  one  can  have  forgotten  the  effect  produced  on 
the  public  mind  by  Kossuth's  seductive  eloquence.  If,  during 
the  two  or  three  weeks  when  the  excitement  was  at  its  height, 
the  proposal  to  abandon  the  neutral  policy  of  the  government 
could  have  been  decided  by  a  popular  vote,  there  would 
probably  have  been  a  large  majority  in  favor  of  Kossuth. 
Happily,  by  the  firmness  of  the  government,  and  the  returning 
good  sense  of  the  people,  this  dangerous  mania  subsided,  and 
gradually  disappeared;  and  Kossuth,  who  was  received  on  his 
arrival  with  great  ovations,  became  so  unpopular  before  he  left 
the  country,  that  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  engage  his  passage 
on  board  the  steamer  under  an  assumed  name. 

His  visit  to  this  country  was  calculated  to  lead  thoughtful 
minds  to  reflect  on  the  growing  danger  of  foreign  influence. 
Had  the  President  shown  any  marks  of  sympathy  with  the 
popular  excitement  which,  for  several  weeks,  ran  so  high,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  foreign  policy  of  the  government  would 
have  undergone  a  complete  revolution.  Mr.  Clay,  who  was 
then  living,  fully  coincided  in  the  views  of  the  President,  and 
in  his  interview  with  Kossuth  explained,  with  his  accustomed 
eloquence,  the  reasons  why  it  was  not  expedient  for  our  gov 
ernment  to  embark  in  the  cause  of  Hungary.  Colonel  Benton, 
in  addressing  a  meeting  of  citizens  in  Missouri,  paid  a  deserved 
tribute  to  Mr.  Fillmore  and  Mr.  Clay,  in  connection  with  this 
subject.  ''I  am  opposed,"  said  Colonel  Benton,  "  to  interven 
ing,  and  under  all  its  forms;  and  as  much  as  any,  in  the  form 
of  'protest,'  to  be  unsupported  by  acts  if  the  protest  should 
be  disregarded.  Of  the  eminent  public  men  of  our  country 
who  have  accosted  this  question  most  to  my  satisfaction,  Mr. 
Fillmore  and  Mr.  Clay  are  the  two  foremost;  they  have  given 
it  a  prompt  and  unqualified  opposition  in  all  its  forms.  This,  in 
my  opinion,  is  the  American  position." 

When  Kossuth  had  failed  in  his  application  to  the  American 
government,  and  in  his  appeal  to  the  great  body  of  the  Ameri- 


FOREIGN    INFLUENCE.  211 

can  people,  he  attempted  to  carry  out  his  project  by  operating 
on  the*  prejudices  of  our  foreign-born  citizens.  His  efforts  in 
this  direction  afford  a  striking  illustration  of  the  dangers  which 
result  from  having  a  Large  body  of  voters  in  our  midst,  whose 
political  sympathies  are  more  fully  given  to  the  revolutionary 
movements  of  the  old  world  than  to  the  institutions  of  their 
adopted  country.  In  a  speech  to  German  citizens  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  on  the  14th  of  June,  1852,  Kossuth  said: 

"  Tbu  are  strong  enough  to  effect  the  ejection  of  that  candi 
date  for  the  Presidency  who  gives  the  most  attention  to  the 
European  cause.  I  find  that  quite  natural,  because  between 
both  parties  there  is  no  difference  as  regards  the  internal 
policy,  and  because  only  by  the  inanity  of  the  German  citizens 
of  this  country,  the  election  will  be  such  that,  by  and  by,  the 
administration  will  turn  their  attention  to  other  countries,  and 
give  every  nation  free  scope.  Xo  tree,  my  German  friends, 
falls  with  the  first  stroke ;  it  is  therefore  necessary  that,  inas 
much  as  you  are  citizens,  and  can  command  your  votes,  you 
support  the  candidate  who  will  pursue  the  external  policy  in 
our  sense,  and  endeavor  to  effect  that  all  nations  become  free 
and  independent,  such  as  is  the  case  in  happy  America." 

On  the  23d  of  the  same  month,  Kossuth  addressed  a  large 
assemblage  of  Germans  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle.  After 
the  close  of  his  speech  a  series  of  resolutions  were  adopted, 
of  which  the  following  are  specimens: 

"Resolved,  That,  as  American  citizens,  we  will  attach  our 
selves  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  will  devote  our  strength  to 
having  a  policy  of  intervention  in  America  carried  out. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  expect  that  the  candidate  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  will  adopt  the  principles  of  this  policy,  which  has 
been  sanctioned  by  all  distinguished  statesmen  of  his  party. 

"Resolved,  That  we  protest  against  the  manner  in  which, 
heretofore,  the  government  of  the  United  States  has  inter 
preted  and  applied  the  policy  of  neutrality,  which  is  in  viola 
tion  of  the  spirit  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 


212  BIOGRAPHY   OF   MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

"Resolved,  That  we  ask  that  every  American  citizen,  not 
being  attached  to  the  soil,  may  support  the  strength  of  any- 
other  people  in  the  sense  as  the  juries  have  interpreted  the 
principles  of  the  American  constitution,  and  especially  of  the 
policy  of  neutrality." 

A  few  days  afterward,  Kossuth  prepared  a  secret  circular, 
which  commenced  as  follows: 

NEW  YORK,  June  28th,  1852. 

«Sm: —  I  hope  you  have  read  already  my  German  farewell 
speech,  delivered  June  23d,  in  the  Tabernacle  at  New  York, 
and  also  the  resolutions  of  the  meeting,  which  were  passed 
consequently. 

"  I  hope,  further,  that  the  impression  which  this  matter  has 
made  upon  both  political  parties  has  not  escaped  your  attention. 

"  Indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to  be  mistaken,  that  the  German 
citizens  of  America  will  have  the,  casting  vote  in  the  coming 
election,  if  they  are  united  in  a  joint  direction  upon  the  plat 
form  of  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  speech  aforementioned. 

"  They  may  decide  upon  the  exterior  policy  of  the  next 
administration  of  the  United  States,  and  with  that  upon  the 
triumph  or  the  fall  of  liberty  in  Europe." 

No  careful  reader  of  these  extracts  can  fail  to  perceive  that 
they  disclose  a  method  by  which  the  presidential  election  of 
this  country  might  be  carried,  and  the  policy  of  the  govern 
ment  controlled  by  persons  of  foreign  birth  and  sympathies. 
The  only  sure  preventive  of  so  great  an  evil  is  to  exclude  from 
any  share  in  the  government  all  except  citizens  who  are  thor 
oughly  imbued  with  American  sentiments. 

After  the  close  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  administration,  it  was  his 
intention,  before  returning  to  his  home  in  Buffalo,  to  comply 
with  numerous  invitations  he  had  received  to  visit  the  South. 
But  severe  domestic  affliction  compelled  him  to  postpone  this 
intention,  and  it  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1854  that  he  was  ablo 
to  make  the  proposed  tour.  lie  then  visited  all  the  principal 
south- western  and  southern  cities,  and  was  everywhere  received 


ME.  FILLMORE'S  AMERICANISM.  213 

with  demonstrations  of  respect  and  welcome,  more  spontaneous, 
cordial  and  extensive  than  had  ever  before  been  bestowed  on 
a  private  citizen.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  Mr.  Fillmore 
was  compelled  again  to  drink  deep  of  the  cup  of  affliction,  and 
some  months  afterward  he  was  induced  to  seek  relief  from  the 
loneliness  of  a  home  which  death  had  rendered  nearly  deso 
late,  by  a  visit  to  the  old  world.  During  the  season  of  retire 
ment  and  domestic  grief  which  preceded  his  embarkation  for 
Europe,  Mr.  Fillmore  took  no  active  part  in  politics,  beyond 
the  exercise  of  the  citizen's  right  of  voting.  When  the  Ameri 
can  party  arose,  he  approved  of  its  objects,  and,  in  the  first 
election  in  which  he  had  an  opportunity  to  do  so,  voted  for  its 
candidates.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1855,  he  formally 
united  with  the  American  party,  and  assumed  its  obligations. 
How  fully  he  appreciated  the  necessity  of  the  American  move 
ment,  and  endorsed  the  principles  in  which  it  had  its  origin, 
may  be  seen  in  the  following  private  letter,  written  to  a  friend 
in  Philadelphia: 

"  BUFFALO,  New  York,  Jan.  3d,  1855. 
"RESPECTED  FRIEND  ISAAC  NEWTON  — 

"  It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  accept  your  kind  in 
vitation  to  visit  Philadelphia,  if  it  were  possible  to  make  my 
visit  private,  and  limit  it  to  a  few  personal  friends  whom  I 
should  be  most  happy  to  see.  But  I  knjw  that  this  would 
be  out  of  my  power ;  and  I  am  therefore  reluctantly  compelled 
to  decline  your  invitation,  as  I  have  done  others  to  New  York 
and  Boston  for  the  same  reason. 

"  I  return  you  many  thanks  for  your  information  on  the 
subject  of  politics.  I  am  always  happy  to  hear  what  is  going 
forward  ;  but,  independently  of  the  fact  that  I  feel  myself  with 
drawn  from  the  political  arena,  I  have  been  too  much  depressed 
in  spirit  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  late  elections.  I  con 
tented  myself  with  giving  a  silent  vote  for  Mr.  Ullman  for 
governor. 

"  W  hile,  however,  I  am  an  inactive  observer  of  public  events, 
I  am  by  no  means  an  indifferent  one ;  and  I  may  say  to  you, 
in  the  frankness  of  private  friendship,  1  have  for  a  long  time 


214  BIOGRAPHY  OF   MILLAED   FILLMORE. 

looked  with  dread  and  apprehension  at  the  corrupting  influence 
which  the  contest  for  the  foreign  vote  is  exciting  upon  our 
elections.  This  seems  to  result  from  its  being  banded  together, 
and  subject  to  the  control  of  a  few  interested  and  selfish 
leaders.  Hence,  it  has  been  a  subject  of  bargain  and  sale, 
and  each  of  the  great  political  parties  of  the  country  have  been 
bidding  to  obtain  it;  and,  as  usual  in  all  such  contests,  the 
party  which  is  most  corrupt  is  most  successful.  The  conse 
quence  is,  that  it  is  fast  demoralizing  the  whole  country;  cor 
rupting  the  very  fountains  of  political  power;  and  converting 
the  ballot-box  —  that  great  palladium  of  our  liberty  —  into  an 
unmeaning  mockery,  where  the  rights  of  native-born  citizens 
are  voted  away  by  those  who  blindly  follow  their  mercenary 
and  selfish  leaders.  The  evidence  of  this  is  found  not  merely 
in  the  shameless  chaffering  for  the  foreign  vote  at  every  elec 
tion,  but  in  the  large  disproportion  of  offices  which  are  now 
held  by  foreigners,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  compared  with  our 
native  citizens.  Where  is  the  true-hearted  American  whose 
cheek  does  not  tingle  with  shame  and  mortification,  to  see  our 
highest  and  most  coveted  foreign  missions  filled  by  men  of 
foreign  birth,  to  the  exclusion  of  native  born?  Such  appoint 
ments  are  a  humiliating  confession  to  the  crowned  heads  of 
Europe,  that  a  republican  soil  does  not  produce  sufficient 
talent  to  -represent  a  republican  nation  at  a  monarchical  court. 
1  confess  that  it  seems  to  me,  with  all  due  respect  to  others, 
that,  as  a  general  rule,  our  country  should  be  governed  by 
American-born  citizens.  Let  us  give  to  the  oppressed  of  every 
country  an  asylum  and  a  home  in  our  happy  land ;  give  to  all 
the  benefits  of  equal  laws  and  equal  protection;  but  let  us  at 
the  same  time  cherish  as  the  apple  of  our  eye  the  great  prin 
ciples  of  constitutional  liberty,  which  few  who  have  not  had 
the  good  fortune  to  be  reared  in  a  free  country  know  how  to 
appreciate,  and  still  less  how  to  preserve. 

*'  Washington,  in  that  inestimable  legacy  which  he  left  to  his 
country  —  his  farewell  address  —  has  wisely  warned  us  to 
beware  of  foreign  influence  as  the  most  baneful  foe  of  a  repub 
lican  government.  He  saw  it,  to  be  sure,  in  a  different  light 
from  that  in  which  it  now  presents  itself;  but  he  knew  that  it 
would  approach  in  all  forms,  and  hence  he  cautioned  us  against 
the  insidious  wiles  of  its  influence.  Therefore,  as  well  for  our 
own  sakes,  to  whom  this  invaluable  inheritance  of  self-govern- 


AMERICAN    PRINCIPLES.  215 

ment  has  been  left  by  our  forefathers,  as  for  the  sake  of  the 
unborn  millions  who  are  to  inherit  this  land  —  foreign  and 
native  —  let  us  take  warning  of  the  father  of  his  country,  and 
do  what  we  can  to  preserve  our  institutions  from  corruption, 
and  our  country  from  dishonor;  but  let  this  be  done  by  the 
people  themselves  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  by  making  a 
proper  discrimination  in  the  selection  of  officers,  and  not  by 
depriving  any  individual,  native  or  foreign-born,  of  any  con 
stitutional  or  legal  right  to  which  he  is  now  entitled. 

"  These  are  my  sentiments  in  brief;  and  although  I  have 
sometimes  almost  despaired  of  my  country,  when  1  have  wit 
nessed  the  rapid  strides  of  corruption,  yet  I  think  I  perceive  ;t 
gleam  of  hope  in  the  future,  and  I  now  feel  confident  that, 
when  the  great  mass  of  intelligence  in  this  enlightened  country 
is  once  fully  aroused,  and  the  danger  manifested,  it  will  fear 
lessly  apply  the  remedy,  and  bring  back  the  government  to 
the  pure  days  of  Washington's  administration.  Finally,  let  us 
adopt  the  old  Roman  motto,  '  Never  despair  of  the  republic.' 
Let  us  do  our  duty,  and  trust  in  that  providence  which  has 
so  signally  watched  over  and  preserved  us,  for  the  result. 
But  I  have  said  more  than  I  intended,  and  much  more  than  I 
should  have  said  to  any  one  but  a  trusted  friend,  as  I  have 
no  desire  to  mingle  in  political  strife.  Remember  me  kindly 
to  your  family,  and,  believe  me, 

"  I  am  truly  yours, 

"  MlLLARD    FlLLMORE." 


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